DA 



INTRODUCTION TO 
ENGLISH HISTORY 

JOHN L. SANFORD 





1A12, 



Class _ 

Bode 

GojjyrightN?____J 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. 



INTRODUCTION TO 
ENGLISH HISTORY 



By 
JOHN L. SANFORD 



(Second Edition) 



"ut rem ita comprehenderem" Cic. 



^ 



\ 



\* 



Copyright, 1917 

BY 

John L. Sanford 
Copyright, 1918 

BY 

John L. Sanford 



DEC 16 1913 



PRESS OF MEYER ftTHALHEIMER 
BALTIMORE. MD. 



©CI.A508582 



'Vv.G I 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 



HISTORY is an authentic and systematic record of 
events in the career of a nation or community. 

In its strict sense it contains the five elements of (1) 
authenticity; (2) a scheme, or philosophical system, of 
statement; (3) a narration of matters of public and gen- 
eral interest; (4) a narration of past events; (5) a re- 
corded (written) statement. 

The word is often used in a broader sense when one, or 
more, of the above elements may be lacking, or as synony- 
mous with "narrative." 

Protohistoric is a term sometimes used to denote those 
matters relating to the beginnings of historical records, 
that is, when such records have not put on an authentic 
shape or their meanings are clouded in the obscurity of 
the long distant past. 

Prehistoric denotes those matters relating to a period 
antedating history and .for an account of which we have 
no written records. 

CHRONOLOGY is a system for the arrangement of 
events according to their relative happening, or sequence, 
as to time. 

The chronological system we use is based upon the 
Birth of Christ. Time before that event is reckoned 
backward and is denoted by the abbreviation B. C. (Be- 
fore Christ) and occasionally by A. C. (Ante Christum). 
Time subsequent is designated by the abbreviation A. D. 
(Anno Domini, in the Year of Our Lord). It was first 
introduced by a Roman monk, Dionysius Exiguus, about 



4 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

the year 5:33 A. D. He fixed the Birth of Christ in the 
year 754 of the Roman Era, but began the year 1 with 
the Annunciation (March 25) of the preceding year. 
It is now believed that he made a mistake in calculating 
the year, so that the Birth of Christ took place four 
years earlier. There is a difference of opinion as to this 
and some claim that Jesus was born in the year 3 B. C, 
others, in 4 B. C, while still others assert that He was 
born in 5 B. C. 

The time from the Birth of Christ is called the Christian 
Era. 

The Gregorian Calendar came into use in England in 
1752 A. D.. and it is necessary to say something of this 
system of dividing time into years, months, days, etc.. as 
well as of the time for beginning the year, since in his- 
torical reading it is well to understand that different 
methods existed just as there have been different chrono- 
logical systems. Julius Caesar introduced (46 B. C.) that 
system of dividing time which is known as the Julian 
Calendar. This system continued in general use through- 
out Europe until it was found that the true time of the 
commencement of the equinoxes did not correspond with 
the calendar, so that the difference in the sixteenth cen- 
tury amounted to about ten days. To correct this error 
Pope Gregory XIII assembled certain learned men who 
formed a plan for the amendment of the existing system 
of computation, and in the year 1582 A. D. it was for- 
mally promulgated by the Pope. Dates under the Julian 
Calendar are sometimes designated as 0. S., meaning old 
style, while those under the Gregorian Calendar are desig- 
nated by the abbreviation N. S., or new style, to dis- 
tinguish them from the former when occasion requires. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 5 

In England, the Gregorian Calendar was not adopted 
until the year 1751, when, by a statute of that year (Stat- 
ute 21 George II, Chap. 23), it was provided that, in the 
year 1752, the day following the second day of Septem- 
ber should be called the fourteenth day of September, in 
other words that eleven days should be dropped from the 
calendar of that year, since by that time the discrepancy 
of the Julian Calendar from true time amounted to this 
number of days. 

This statute made another important change. In En- 
gland, prior to 1752, the legal and ecclesiastical year com- 
menced on the 25 March, although the popular reckoning 
was January 1. It was now enacted (by the above-men- 
tioned statute) that the legal year should begin on Janu- 
ary 1, and that this change should commence on the first 
day of January following the last day of December, 1751, 
that is January which would have been known as Janu- 
ary, 1751, should be called January, 1752. For some time 
thereafter it was usual to give two dates for an occur- 
rence between the first day of January and the twenty- 
fifth day of March, thus: March, 1752-53; February, 1753- 
54; January, 1758-59. 

The system of dating a year by the sovereign's reign 
is still used in English statutes, as shown above, and, in 
this connection, it is well to remember that a statute may 
be of the one or the other of two calendar years in which 
the year of the reign may be unless the accession takes 
place on January 1, when, necessarily, the year of the 
reign synchronizes with the calendar year. 

History is usually divided into the three great epochs — 
Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern. 



6 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Ancient History extends from the earliest times to the 
downfall of the Western Roman Empire (476 A. D.). 

Mediaeval History (that is, History of the Middle Ages) 
extends from the downfall of the Western Roman Em- 
pire (476 A. D.) to modern times, which different his- 
torians fix at different dates as : at the fall of Constan- 
tinople and the Eastern Roman Empire (1453 A. D.) ; at 
the discovery of America (1492 A. D.) ; at the Reforma- 
tion (1517-1520 A. D.). It covers a period of about a 
thousand years. 

Modern History extends from the ending of the Middle 
Ages to the present times. 

As these divisions are arbitrary as to the exact time 
and typify certain great changes in civilization the pe- 
riods may be classified as follows : 

Ancient History (from the earliest times of historical 
record to the year 500 A. D.) 

Mediaeval History (from 500 A. D. to 1500 A. D.). 

Modern History (from 1500 A. D. to and including the 
present times). 

Some, however, divide history into two great divisions 
— Ancient and Modern — and treat Mediaeval History as 
belonging to the latter. 

These define Ancient History to be the history of those 
times prior to the downfall of the Western Roman Em- 
pire and Modern History to extend from that date (476 
A. D.) to the present. 

The Dark Ages is a term applied to the eclipse of learn- 
ing in Europe, or from the coming of the barbarian 
hordes against Rome to the Italian Renaissance, that is 
from about the beginning of the fifth century to the 
thirteenth century. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 7 

DERIVATION OF NAMES. It may be well to give 
at this point certain data regarding the names of the 
constituent parts of Great Britain. 

Great Britain is a term used to denote England, Scot- 
land and Wales and also, in a generic sense, the British 
Empire. 

The etymology of the word is unknown. The old chroni- 
clers give an account, considered to be purely mythical, 
of the conquest of Britain by Brutus, from whom the 
island took its name. This Brutus was the great grand- 
son of Aeneas and, being driven from Italy, went to 
Troy, whence, with a band of followers there collected, 
he came to Britain and defeated a race of giants living 
in the land. 

The Welsh Bards state that it was called the Island of 
Bryt, or Prydain, and it is from this last word that some 
think the name is derived. Others attribute the name to 
the Celtic word "brit," meaning painted, because the 
ancient Britons were in the habit of painting their bodies. 
Still others derive the name from the Punic "brt-ank," 
meaning "the land of tin," and some late scholars as- 
cribe to it a Germanic origin. In the old writings it is 
called Breten, Breoten and names of a similar sound. 

As the lower part of the island became united into a 
kingdom, known as England, under Egbert (827 A. D.), 
and the Picts and Scots of the north formed the kingdom 
of Scotland under Kenneth MeAlpin (middle of the ninth 
century), the name of Britain was only used in a his- 
torical sense until the time of King James I, who. as 
King James VI of Scotland, united the crowns of the 
two kingdoms in himself. Although James wished to 
adopt the title "King of Great Britain," the Parliament 



8 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

demurred and refused to sanction its use. When, how- 
ever, the Act of Union became effective on May 1, 1707, 
the kingdoms of England and Scotland were united un- 
der the name of Great Britain and Anne was styled 
''Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland." Upon 
the passage of the Act of Union with Ireland, which be- 
came effective January lj 1801, the name became the 
"United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." 

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland be- 
came an empire officially when, in the year 1876, Queen 
Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India. The title 
of King George V is "George V, by the Grace of GOD, of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of 
the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, King, Defender 
of the Faith, Emperor of India." 

While the term Briton may be used to denote an in- 
habitant of Britain, yet is is generally used to designate 
those older Celtic inhabitants described by Caesar and 
afterward conquered by the Anglo-Saxon tribes. 

Albion was the name given to the island in ancient 
times and was so called from the white cliffs of the En- 
glish Channel which resembled "mountains covered with 
snow" and known in Celtic as "alpen" or "alp." 

ENGLAND is the name of the southern part of the 
island of Great Britain and is sometimes used to include 
that portion more particularly known as Wales. 

It means the land of the Angeln, or Angles, that is 
the land of the people who formerly dwelt in that dis- 
trict of Schleswig known as "Angul." 

The word "angul," or "angel" (cognate with the 
English word "angle"), meant in Anglo-Saxon a hook, 
or fish-hook, the Aryan root of the word being "ank," 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 9 

meaning "to bend," and so it is supposed that the tribe 
or people living in that portion of Schleswig derived their 
name from the shape of that particular district. Bede 
speaks of it as "ilia patria quae Angulus dicitur." 

The name "England" was first used to designate the 
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the Heptarchy in the time of 
Egbert (827 A. D.) when he united them into one king- 
dom, or, at least, under one sway. It is asserted that this 
king issued a royal decree proclaiming the name of En- 
gland for the country, and the name of English for the 
inhabitants and for the language. It remained, however, 
for the Danes and for the Normans (particularly the lat- 
ter) to unite with the Anglo-Saxons before the final for- 
mation of that kingdom and of that people, we now know 
as England and the English, took place. 

The word "Saxon" is the name of the second of those 
tribes which, coming from the shores of the North Sea in 
the district of Holstein, followed the Jutes in their de- 
scent on Britain. The name is derived from "sax," 
"saex," or "seax," meaning a knife, or short sword, so 
that Saxon would mean the wearer of a short sword. 

The term Anglo-Saxon is used to denote all those tribes 
of Jutes, Saxons and Angles which came to Britain in 
the fifth and sixth centuries. They came from, neighbor- 
ing districts, were of the same stock and spoke different 
dialects of the same language, and so, under this name, 
they are regarded as one people settling in Britain. 

There is some dispute as to whether Anglo (Angle) in 
the compound word "Anglo-Saxon" is to be considered 
in a substantive sense or whether it is to be treated as 
an adjective to distinguish the English Saxon from the 
Old Saxon who remained in his German home. 



10 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Wales is the name for that portion of England which 
forms a great peninsula on the western coast. It is an 
administrative division of England and has been united 
to it since the time of Edward I, who made it into a 
principality by creating his young son (afterward Ed- 
ward II) Prince of Wales. 

The name of Welsh was given to the inhabitants of the 
country in early times by the Anglo-Saxons. The word 
means foreigners and was applied to those Celts whom 
they found living there as well as to those Britons whom 
they forced to flee to this portion of the island. 

Scotland is the northern portion of the island of Great 
Britain. It means the land of the Scottas, or Scotti. The 
etymology of this word is obscure. Until the reign of 
King Alfred, the word Scottas was used to denote the 
people of Ireland, who were a Gaelic branch of the 
Celtic race. They established a settlement in Argyll in 
the sixth century and gradually extended over the coun- 
try then occupied by the Picts, as the inhabitants of 
Caledonia were known. 

Finally the two races were joined in the kingship of 
Kenneth McAlpin and from that time (middle of the 
ninth century) the northern part of Great Britain was 
known as Scotland. 

The name of Caledonia was given by the Romans to the 
most northerly part of Great Britain and, more particu- 
larly, to the most northerly province, or division, of the 
island by them. It corresponded to what is now known 
as the Highlands. The use of the word "Caledonia" to 
designate Scotland is now archaic, although sometimes 
found in poetry. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 11 

That portion of Scotland lying north of the River 
Forth is known as the Highlands, while that south is 
known as the Lowlands. 

Topographical and racial conditions have made this 
natural division of the country a potent factor in its 
history. 

Ireland was first known as Ierne, Iernia and Hibernia 
by the Romans, and the etymology of its name, like its 
ancient history, is obscure and involved in myth. Henry 
II, always desirous of securing new dominions, sent over 
certain of his followers to Ireland in the year 1169 A. D., 
and from that date its history impinges upon that of 
England. 

That portion of the country dominated by the English 
(in the eastern part of the island about Dublin and which, 
from time to time, varied in extent) was called the 
"Pale," so that the remainder of the country was said 
to be "beyond the Pale," and was under the dominion of 
various chieftains who were more or less hostile to the 
English. 

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE is the direct result of 
the combination of Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French sub- 
sequent to the Norman Conquest. 

The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles were closely 
allied tribes dwelling in the northern part of Germany 
and in Denmark who spoke different dialects of the same 
language, which belonged to the Low German division 
of the southern, or German, branch of the Teutonic 
family of Aryan languages. The exact locations of the 
former homes of these tribes are difficult to determine. 
Some historians make them proceed from the territory 
now known as Friesland, while others contend that what 



12 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

is now known as Denmark comprehended all the dis- 
tricts of these tribes. 

The weight of authority would seem to place them as 
follows : the Jutes in the middle and the whole, or a por- 
tion, of the northerly part of Denmark ; the Angles in the 
district known as Schleswick ; the Saxons in the district 
of Holstein. It is also contended that the dialect of the 
Jute was more closely connected with the Saxon (Old 
Saxon) dialect than was that of the Angle and would 
denote that the Jutes dwelt between the lands of the 
Angles and the Saxons instead of north of the former 
and that the original dialect of the Angle was more close- 
ly allied to the Scandinavian than it was to that of the 
Saxons. But these hypotheses merely show the difficulty 
of exactly locating the former homes of the three prin- 
ciple tribes which formed the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. 

When these tribes invaded Britain (449-588 A. D.) they 
found the Celtic language and the Latin, the former as 
the popular, the latter as the polite and learned tongue 
which had been imported by the Romans during their 
occupation of the island and which was chiefly confined 
to the towns. As the Anglo-Saxon tribes were of the same 
race and had the same customs and manners, and as the 
difference in their speech was merely dialectical, it was 
natural that they should assimilate, while the common 
enmity of the Celt against them would prevent any ap- 
preciable influence by the Celtic tongue. So it is sup- 
posed that the Celtic and the Latin of this period had 
little or no influence on the fusion of those Anglo-Saxon 
dialects which was taking place. 

Latin was again introduced in Britain when Pope 
Gregory I (the Great) sent Saint Augustine to convert 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 13 

the Anglo-Saxons and to establish the authority of the 
Roman See. Augustine, with his thirty-nine companions, 
landed at Thanet in the early part of the year 597 A. D., 
but the Latin language was confined to the learned and 
had little influence on the rapidly developing Anglo- 
Saxon speech. 

The next language which was brought in contact with 
it was that of the Vikings of Scandinavia and Denmark. 
These Vikings were the inhabitants of Scandinavia and, 
coming from the coasts of Norway and Sweden, had taken 
possession of the former northerly holdings of the Anglo- 
Saxon tribes in Denmark after the latter had emigrated 
to Britain. It is possible that some of these Vikings were 
a part of the original tribe of Jutes who had remained in 
Denmark and had become affiliated with the Norse and 
Swedish tribes. 

The name "Vikings" was given generally to those 
bands of hardy freebooters from Scandinavia and Den- 
mark who began their incursions upon the northern and 
western shores of Europe and upon England early in the 
ninth century. They were called Danes in England and 
Norsemen, or Northmen, in France and Europe gener- 
ally. The name Normandy marks their acquisition of ter- 
ritory in northern France, while the old term of "Dane- 
lagh" marked for many years that portion of eastern 
England held by them from the Peace of Wedmore (878 
A. D.) until the Norman Conquest. This term of "viking" 
is derived from the word "vik," meaning a creek or 
small bay, so that "vikingr, " or "viking," would mean 
a frequenter of creeks, and applied to every member of 
these piratical hordes. The term "sea-king" is not the 
translation of the word "viking," for the former denotes 



14 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

the leader, or chief, of such a band, so that while a Scan- 
dinavian sea-king was a viking, the latter name would 
apply to each of his wild followers. They spoke a lan- 
guage known as Old Danish, which belonged to the north- 
ern, or Scandinavian, branch of the Teutonic family of 
Aryan languages. Their incursions, their settlement in 
the Danelagh (also written Danelaw), the rule of the 
Danish kings — Canute, Harold and Hardicanute — brought 
their language in close contact with the Anglo-Saxon, 
but while it may have had some effect upon the latter 
yet this effect was not a very pronounced one. From 
the time of the Battle of Hastings (1066 A. D.) until 
about 1250 A. D., Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French were 
spoken side by side, the Norman disdaining the vernacu- 
lar of the Saxons. The Norman-French tongue was, in 
effect, the colloquial and colonial Latin of Gaul adopted 
by the Northmen upon their acquisition and colonization 
of that portion of France which has since borne their 
name. As time went on, however, the Anglo-Saxons and 
Normans were drawn closer and closer, the feelings of 
animosity disappeared and there grew up a speech known 
and spoken by both. The amalgamation of the two races 
is said to have taken place in the reign of Henry II (1154- 
1189). This was the beginning of the English speech of 
today, and although it may be regarded as the direct 
development of the Anglo-Saxon, yet, during the great 
transition period from 1066 A. D. to 1350 A. D., the lat- 
ter was so altered as to appear at the end of that time 
as a distinct language. There are two great differences 
between the two tongues. The first in point of impor- 
tance as well as in point of time took place between 1150 
A. D. and 1250 A. D. and consisted in the loss of inflec- 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 15 

tions. Anglo-Saxon was an inflected, or synthetic, lan- 
guage, while English is not an inflected language but 
an analytic one. The second great difference took place 
between 1250 A. D. and 1350 A. D. and consisted in the 
vast increase in the vocabulary of the English and its 
greater pliability by reason of the introduction of the 
rich store of Latin words through the medium of the 
Norman-French. The great influence of the Norman- 
French can thus be seen in these two vast changes, so it 
may here be noted that while some call the Anglo-Saxon 
period Old English, others give this name to the period 
between 1250 A. D. and 1350 A. D. 

A potent factor in the union of the two languages, 
Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French, was the continued op- 
pression of the Crown, which bore heavily upon both 
peoples and created a common spirit of nationality. 
Opposition to this oppression culminated in the meeting 
of the Barons with King John at Runnymede and the 
execution of the Magna Charta on June 15, 1215, so that 
this date has almost as much significance in literature as 
it has in history. 

From the very nature of the case, exact dates of tran- 
sitions in the language from one stage of development to 
another cannot be given. There is diversity of opinion 
not only as to these but also as to the nomenclature of 
the divisions showing the different stages. Thus the 
name of Old Saxon is generally given to those of the 
Saxons who remained on the Continent to distinguish 
them from their brethren who came to Britain at the 
time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion. And this name ap- 
plies to the language which the Old Saxons used. But- 
some use this term to apply to the Anglo-Saxon period 



16 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

(449 A. D. to 1066 A. D.), while others call it the Old 
English. 

A concise expression of the derivation of English may 
be thus given : the English language is the direct de- 
scendant of the Anglo-Saxon in combination with the 
Norman-French. 

English literature, as distinguished from Anglo-Saxon 
and Norman-French, may be said to date from the time 
of Chaucer (1340-1400), since which time there has been 
a steady growth and, by reason of its inherent strength 
and beauty as well as by many other wonderful proper- 
ties, it has become the classic language known as Modern 
English. 

Caxton (about 1422-1491), bj^ the introduction of print- 
ing into England in the year 1477, advanced the cause of 
the language by fixing grammatical form and orthogra- 
phy, since, by means of this art, the syntax and orthog- 
raphy naturally became more uniform and were less liable 
to changes and alterations due to the mistakes or to the 
dialectical differences of various transcribers. 

Shakespeare (1564-1616), by his genius and industry 
and through the great medium of the drama, did much 
to mould the form of the language. But the greatest in- 
fluence exerted for the welfare of the English and for 
the establishment of a classic style was the translation 
of the Holy Bible (commenced in 1604, and printed in 
1611) known as the authorized, or King James, version. 

The official recognition of the language did not keep 
exact pace with its literary growth, although one of the 
earliest specimens of English (Transition Period) is the 
Proclamation of Henry III to the people of Hunting- 
donshire in the year 1258 A. D. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 17 

In 1362 A. D. (36 Edward III, Chap. 15), it was en- 
acted that pleas in the courts should be made in English 
and enrolled in Latin. 

In 1731 A. D. (4 George II, Chap. 26), it was ordered 
that on and after 25 March, 1733, "all Proceedings what- 
soever in any Courts of Justice in that Part of Great 
Britain called England, and in the Court of Exchequer 
in Scotland, and which concern the Law and Administra- 
tion of Justice, shall be in the English Tongue and Lan- 
guage only and not in Latin or French, or any other 
Tongue or Language whatsoever." 

The above Act was extended to the Principality of 
Wales in the year 1733 A. D. by the Statute of 6 George 
II, Chap. 14, sec. 3. 

From the above remarks it will be seen that there are 
two ways to regard the growth and development of the 
English language. 

If we consider it as the natural development and 
growth of the speech of the Anglo-Saxon tribes (although 
materially altered by outside influences during the period 
from 1066 to 1350), and that the language has retained 
the inherent qualities of the earlier times notwithstand- 
ing the outside influences, we may view the matter from 
a historical standpoint and may regard the history of the 
language as coincident with the history of the Anglo- 
Saxons who began the English nation of today when they 
first landed in 449 A. D. 

On the other hand, it may be thought that the changes 
wrought were so material, and the Norman-French and 
other influences so vital and so strong, as to produce a 
distinct language. This may be considered a linguistic 



18 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

or literary view. The question narrows itself down as to 
whether the degree of dissimilarity is such as will sus- 
tain the distinction or not. But we may agree that there 
can be no doubt that English is the direct descendant of 
the Anglo-Saxon; that it met with great and radical 
changes in the transition period, during which time it 
combined with the Norman-French ; that we now possess 
a language that differs materially from its predecessor. 

A further discussion of this subject belongs to the his- 
tory of literature and of the English language. 

As stated above, there are various classifications, or 
divisions, of the periods of growth and development of 
the language, and it will be found that authorities vary 
greatly in their nomenclature of the periods, so that it 
is often confusing. Frequently, this difference is attribu- 
table to the personal bias, or viewpoint, of the author in 
question, which is true not only as to the history of liter- 
ature but also as to general history. 

Thus, some call the period from the accession of Henry 
VII (1485) to 1611 Tudor, or Early Modem. English, 
others declare that Modern English should be applied to 
the language and literature which began about the middle 
of the reign of Elizabeth (about 1580) ; others point to 
1477 as the beginning of Modern English. The many 
changes in the English language give grounds for vari- 
ous classifications, but the following is a general one and 
conforms to the greater changes that have taken place : 

Anglo-Saxon (Old English)— 449 to 1066, or 1100. 
Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French (Transition Period) — 

1066 to 1350. 
English, First Period— 1350 to 1611. 
English, Second Period — 1611 to present. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 



19 




The Feudal System. William 
the Conqueror introduced this 
system of land tenure upon 
which the political and social 
life of the nation thereafter 
grew. It was a modified feudal- 
ism from that of the continent, 
for William claimed the direct 
fealty to himself as sovereign 
of all who held indirectly as 
well as directly of him, and 
"tenure of land was the basis 
of Norman administration." 

The introduction of the feudal system changed the 
whole course of the constitutional, or governmental, his- 
tory of England, and while there are conflicting views 
as to the amount of this change, yet the latest and more 
authoritative idea is that the variation is marked and 
distinct between the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman in- 
stitutions. 

As stated above, William introduced and emphasized 
that system which, based upon tenure, regarded the title 
of all land as vested in the Crown. It was feudal as 
distinguished from allodial. 

It is stated in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Anno 1086) 
that William held a great assembly at Salisbury and that 
there "he was met by his councillors and all the lands- 
men that were of any account over all England became 
this man's (William's) vassals as they were; and they all 
bowed themselves before him and became his men, and 
swore him oaths of allegiance that they would against all 
other men be faithful to him." 



20 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

The claims of feudal prerogative became more and 
more oppressive and their abuse was sought to be checked 
as in the case of the obtention of Magna Charta and its 
reissues and confirmations. Owing to these checks and 
to the growth of the constitutional ideas of government 
(as evidenced by the development of Parliament) the 
rigors of the feudal laws became modified so that feudal- 
ism under the Tudors' differed from feudalism under the 
Norman and Plantagenet kings. 

Henry VIII established the Court of Wards and Liv- 
eries which had the control of wardships, livery of seisin 
(through the king's writ to the heir when he came of 
age) and of a number of other profits from tenure which 
accrued to the sovereign (32 Henry VIII, c. 46 and 33 
Henry VIII, c. 22). 

The Commonwealth (in the year 1645 and again in 
1656) did away with this Court and many of the feudal 
exactions and upon the Restoration one of the first acts 
passed was that of 12 Charles II, c. 24, entitled "An Act 
for taking away the Court of Wards and Liveries, and 
Tenures in Capite, and by Knight 's-Service, and Purvey- 
ance, and for settling a Revenue upon his Majesty in lieu 
thereof." 

This Act abolished the old tenure by knight-service and 
its incidents and converted such tenure into that of free 
and common socage. 

Thus the main feature of feudalism was abolished in 
A. D. 1660 and to this extent feudalism as formerly ex- 
istent may be said to have ended. 

But it must not be supposed that the underlying idea 
of feudal holding and the principles of jurisprudence con- 
nected therewith were abolished by that statute, for many 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 21 

of such principles still remain and the existent law, par- 
ticularly as regarding landed estates, is not only remi- 
niscent, but is made up, of those principles of . feudal 
law and custom which have come down from the past. 

Domesday Book. - William the Conqueror, after holding 
his court at Gloucester, A. D. 1085, "had a very deep 
consultation with his council" about the condition of the 
kingdom and thereupon he ordered an inquisition of the 
whole country, the result of which is contained in the 
two volumes of Domesday, or Doomsday. The survey, or 
inquisition, itself was called a "descriptio" and it is now 
held that this was in the nature of a "return" and that 
from the "descriptio" of the different counties the Domes- 
day volumes were thereafter compiled for the use of the 
king's officials, so that, while it is stated that "Domes- 
day" was completed in the year 1086 (or about eight 
months after it was ordered) and this date is generally 
assigned to the volumes we now know as the Exchequer 
Domesday, it is advanced by eminent authority that Domes- 
day Book itself was not transcribed from the "descriptio" 
until later. 

The returns were made at Winchester and the book 
styles itself "Liber de Wintonia," for the name "Domes- 
day" did not attach until later and possibly not until 
the middle of the twelfth century. It is also called "Ro- 
tulus Wintoniae," "Liber de Thesauro," "Censualis An- 
gliae," "Scriptura Thesauri Regi," as well as being re- 
ferred to by other names. 

There are numerous theories as to the etymology of 
the word, but the one generally accepted is that it was 
so applied to indicate that the inquisition was to be in 
the nature of a judicial determination, or judgment, as 



22 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

the word "dom," or "doom," meant a judgment. Some 
derived the name from the idea that the books were first 
deposited in the church (Domus DEI) of Winchester with 
the king's treasure. 

The investigation as made was not a survey in the sense 
of locating properties by metes and bounds, but was 
fiscal rather than topographical and was intended pri- 
marily to obtain such data whereupon the king could 
levy a tax or "geld." The theory that it was based upon 
the Dom-boc of King Alfred is no longer entertained, as 
that was simply a code of Saxon laws. 

Domesday (the "Exchequer" Domesday) is contained 
in two volumes which are known respectively as the 
"Great Domesday" (Volume I) and the "Little Domes- 
day" (Volume II). Volume I (382 leaves of writing) con- 
tains an account of thirty counties, and the then District 
of Rutland, while Volume II (450 leaves) contains the 
description of three counties in greater detail. 

It is now advanced that Volume II was the first volume 
compiled from the original returns and that, finding the 
method therein employed too long, the descriptions were 
made shorter in the book we now know as Volume I. 

Volume I contains the following counties : 

Kent Herefordshire 

Sussex Cambridgeshire 

Surrey Huntingdonshire 

Hampshire Bedfordshire 

Berkshire Northamptonshire 

Wiltshire Leicestershire 

Dorsetshire Warwickshire 

Somersetshire Staffordshire 

Devonshire Shropshire 

Cornwall Cheshire 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 23 

Middlesex Derbyshire 

Hertfordshire Nottinghamshire 

Buckinghamshire Rutland (as a district) 

Oxfordshire Yorkshire 

Gloucestershire Lincolnshire 
Worcestershire 
Volume II contains : Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. 

Lancashire does not appear under its name for it had 
not been erected into a county at the time of Domesday. 
A part of its territory appears in the survey of York- 
shire, while another part appears in Cheshire. 

Rutland is mentioned more as a district than as a county 
and parts of its present territory are described under the 
surveys of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. 

Monmouthshire was formerly the Welsh kingdom of 
Gwent and at the time of the inquest was not ranked as 
an English county although certain portions, including 
the town of Monmouth, were assessed under Hereford- 
shire while others were assessed under Gloucestershire. 

Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmoreland and Dur- 
ham do not appear in Domesday, and for this various 
reasons are assigned. It is held that they were not sur- 
veyed because the country had been so devastated that 
it was thought very little revenue could be obtained. A 
better view appears to be the fact that these northern 
counties were not at that time defined as they are now 
(the southern portions of Cumberland and Westmoreland 
being then in Yorkshire) and that they were not alto- 
gether under the absolute dominion of the English king 
and an integral part of the kingdom. 

William appointed commissioners who were required 
to summon the sheriff, the barons and others of every 



24 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

community and obtain from them under oath the details 
desired for the inquest. Although no original and au- 
thentic writ containing the directions of the king to his 
commissioners (legati) for making the inquest is known 
to exist, the "return" from the "Inquisitio Eliensis" is 
supposed to contain the enquiries to be made. 

"Here is underwritten the inquest of lands which the 
King's Barons made, to wit, by the oath of the sheriff 
of the shire and all the barons and their Frenchmen and 
the whole hundred, and of the priest and the reeve and 
six villeins of every township, as follows : How the manor 
is called; who held it in King Edward's time; who now 
holds it ; how many hides ; how many plough-teams in 
demesne ; how many plough-teams of the tenants ; how 
many villeins ; how many cottars ; how many slaves ; how 
many free men ; how many sokemen ; how much wood- 
land ; how much meadow ; how much pasture ; how many 
mills ; how many fisheries ; how much has been added or 
taken away ; how much was the total value ; how much 
now ; how much each free man and sokeman had or has. 
All this thrice, to wit, in the time of King Edward, and 
when King William granted it, and as it is now and if it 
is possible to get more than it now had."* 

There are certain documents closely associated with the 
Exchequer Domesday which have shed great light upon 



* "Hie subscribitur inquisicio terrarum, quomodo barones regis inquisierunt, 
videlicet per saeramentum vicecomitis scire et omnium baronum et eorum 
francegenarum, et tociuscenturiatus, presbiteri, prepositi vi villani uniuseujusque 
ville: deinde quomodo vocatur mansio, quis tenuit earn tempore R. E., quis 
modo tenet, quot hidae, quot carruce in dominio, quot hominum, quot villani, 
quot cotarii, quot servi, quot liberi homines, quot sochemanni, quantum silve, 
quantum prati, quot pascuorum, quot molendina, quot piscine, quantum est 
additum vel ablatum, quantum valebat totum simul, et quantum modo, 
quantum quisque liber homo vel sochemannus habuit vel habet. 

"Hoc totum tripliciter, scilicet tempore regis Aeduardi, et quando Rex 
Willelmus dedit et qualiter modo sit, et si potest plus haberi quam habeatur."' 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 25 

the study of that book, such as the "Inquisitio Eliensis" 
just referred to, the "Liber Exoniensis" and the "Inquis- 
itio Comitatus Cantabrigiensis." 

The "Inquisitio Eliensis," or "Inquest of the Lands 
of the Monastery of Ely," deals with the holdings of that 
Abbey which were spread over Cambridgeshire, Hertford- 
shire, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Huntingdonshire, and 
seems to have been made in part from copies of the origi- 
nal returns for Domesday and in part from copies from 
Domesday itself. 

The "Inquisitio Comitatus Cantabrigiensis," or "In- 
quest of the County of Cambridge," has been declared to 
be "the true key of the Domesday Survey." It deals 
with all holders of lands in that county and is supposed 
to be either the original returns, or early copies of the 
original returns, from which Domesday was compiled. 

The "Liber Exoniensis," or "Exon Domesday," is sup- 
posed to contain an exact copy of the original returns of 
the royal commissioners and deals with the five south- 
western counties which are thought to have composed a 
group for the purposes of the survey. These counties 
are Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Devonshire and 
Cornwall. 

There are a number of other and subsequent surveys, or 
"inquests," which also throw light upon Domesday Book 
and the customs, manners and tenures of the times and 
localities when and where taken. 

The Worcestershire Survey, or Inquest, was taken at 
some time between the years 1108 and 1118 owing to a 
dispute between the church at Worcester and the sheriff 
as to the rating of the former.* Other surveys were: 
the Lindsey Survey (1115-1118), the Leicestershire Sur- 



26 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

vey (1124-1129), the Northamptonshire Geld-Roll (Temp. 
Henry I or Henry II). 

The name of "domesday" was sometimes applied to 
inquisitions of this nature as in the case of the "Domes- 
day of Saint Paul's" made in the year 1181. Closely 
associated in character is the "Boldon Book," which was 
compiled by the order of Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Dur- 
ham, in the year 1183. It contains an account of the 
rentals and seignorial rights of that bishopric and was 
so called because the tenures of Boldon were taken as a 
standard of comparison for the entire estate. 

MAGNA CHARTA (or Magna Carta) was the declar- 
ation of English rights and liberties forced by the barons 
from King John at Runnymede and sealed by the king 
on 15 June, 1215. It has been referred to as "the key- 
stone of English liberty," and has frequently been re- 
issued and reaffirmed by succeeding sovereigns. 

When the charter was executed, or immediately there- 
after, many copies were made in order that they might 
be sent to the cathedrals and castles throughout the 
realm, for it was the custom in those early days to dis- 
tribute documents of great public import to the various 
strongholds and cathedrals as the safest repositories for 
their preservation. In this case it was particularly im- 
portant, for the barons had every reason to know, as the 
event proved, that the king would endeavor to evade the 
stipulations of his concessions and would violate the pro- 
visions for the maintenance of the rights of his opponents. 

There are four charters now in existence which are 
considered to be "originals," or original duplicate copies, 
of the Magna Charta of King John: (1) the Lincoln 
Magna Charta, now in the archives of Lincoln Cathedral ; 



GREAT SEAL OF KING JOHN 

(Size of seal, 3.8 in. diameter) 




FRONT, OR OBVERSE 




REVERSE, OR COUNTERSEAL 



28 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 




\txnL,e?$c 



Mocncnv 



MAh-Jd Aft P^iW'V iHrmi2u3. H<x> « 



(2) the British Museum Magna Charta No. 1; (3) the 
British Museum Magna Charta No. 2 (both of these lat- 
ter, (2) and (3), being in the British Museum); (4) the 
Salisbury Magna Charta, now in the archives of the 
Salisbury Cathedral. The four copies are alike except 
in a Few trivial particulars. 

The Lincoln 
Magna Charta has 
been engrossed 
with more care 
than the others 
and was chosen by 
the commissioners 
in preparing the 
Statutes of the 
Realm. It is sup- 
posed to have been transmitted to the cathedral by Hugh, 
the then Bishop of Lincoln, who is mentioned as one of 
the bishops in the introductory clause of the document. 
Magna Charta is usually divided into a preamble and 
sixty-three chapters, but in the "originals" there are no 
such divisions. Its language is mediaeval Latin, while its 
handwriting is that known as Norman, which, becoming 
greatly changed, was long after known as "Court Hand" 
to distinguish it from other styles of handwriting. 

King John did not affix his signature to the document, 
the seal being considered the full execution of an instru- 
ment for some time prior and subsequent to this reign. 
It must also be noted that there is some discussion as to 
the actual date of the execution of this Charter, as it is 
advanced that while the terms were actually agreed to on 
15 June, 1215, it was not finally executed until 19 June, 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 2 9 

1215. The express statement of the document itself gives 
the date as 15 June, 1215. 

Magna Charta was reissued three times during the 
reign of King Henry III, namely, in the years 1216, 1217 
and 1225. These documents differed in their terms from 
that of his father, King John, and that of A. D. 1225 is 
the Magna Charta generally referred to by the old law- 
writers. Edward I confirmed Magna Charta in the twenty- 
fifth year of his reign (12 October, 1297), which was 
done by the regrant of that of 9 Henry III (with a 
small change) and is known as an "Inspeximus" charter 
on account of the statement therein contained that "we 
have examined the Great Charter" of King Henry (III) 
and, after quoting same (with a slight change), ratifying 
and confirming it. 

Magna Charta has been confirmed and ratified at least 
thirty-two times, according to Coke. 

King John did not issue a Forest Charter. The first 
Forest Charter was granted by Henry III on 6 Novem- 
ber, 1217, and, it is supposed, at the same time as his 
second Charter of Liberties, which latter is undated. 
Some doubt, however, exists as to the date of the execu- 
tion of this second Magna Charta of Henry III and the 
23 September, 1217, is also assigned as the exact time.* 



* Before the time of Henry II there were no fixed forms to distinguish the 
public edicts, public directions or private instructions of the sovereign, but 
from that time certain distinctions began to appear and became well marked 
about the year 1300. 

A Charter contained the most solemn acts and declarations of the king. 
In form, Charters are like Letters Patent as they are not sealed up like Letters 
Close but have the seal pendent at the bottom of the writing like Letters 
Patent. 

Letters Patent contain the public directions of the king or directions which, 
though private in their nature, are of public import. 

Letters Close were private instructions to individuals and were so called be- 
cause they were folded or closed. 

The difference between Charters and Patents were that, as to substance, the 
former contained the more solemn grants and similar acts of the sovereign 



X 










UJ 




*>)) 






(0 

UJ 


J 
•> 


if i- 

( UJ 








'^D 






4 .***. 


/"" 


Jjk ^* 






— -^. 












// '■^-•'~' 






>< 










UJ 

in 


z 
o 


M 






UJ 

o 

Q 


z 
o 


J - 


UJ 

or 








H \v 


or 




s 




UJ i\ 
2 V\ 


D 




r 


■ , ,«- 


2 *v 


lO 




2 










< IU 




1 I \% 






is 




8 9 V. 


y 


"***. — 




J 
Id / 

-V - ) 


UJ 


X 
c 


CD 




K 


z 

5 




>' 


1 x / 

JOS * i 


I 
tf) 

a. 


•° 






M s ui 


< 




O 


■ .,< 


/-' < IS 




U. 


1$£ 


/ HI 


I 




X 










o 






- 





INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 31 

ilagna (Hljaria nf 2Ctng 3lnl|n. 

John, by the Grace of GOD, King of England, Lord of 
Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of An- 
jou, to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, 
Justiciars, Foresters, Sheriffs, Provosts, Officers, and to 
all his Bailiffs and Faithful Subjects, Greeting: 

Know ye, that we, in the presence of GOD, and for the 
health of our soul and of the souls of all our ancestors 
and heirs, to the honor of GOD and the exaltation of 
Holy Church and amendment of our Kingdom, by the 
counsel of our Reverend Fathers, Stephen Archbishop of 
Canterbury, Primate of All England and Cardinal of the 
Holy Roman Church, Henry Archbishop of Dublin, Wil- 
liam of London, Peter of Winchester, Joscelin of Bath 
and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, 
William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, Bishops, of 
Master Pandulf Subdeacon and a member of the house- 
hold of our lord the Pope, and of Brother Aymer JMaster 
of the Knighthood of the Temple in England, and of the 
illustrious men William Marshal Earl of Pembroke, Wil- 
liam Earl of Salisbury, William Earl of Warren, William 
Earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway Constable of Scot- 
land, Warine Fitz-Gerald, Hubert de Burgh Seneschal of 
Poitou, Peter Fitz-Herbert, Hugh de Neville, Matthew 
Fitz-Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip de Al- 
bini, Robert de Roppelay, John Marshal, John Fitz-Hugh, 



which were supposed to affect the entire kingdom, while the latter were of pub- 
lic moment but of a more personal nature: as to form, Charters were ad- 
dressed to all the various classes of the kingdom and were witnessed by the 
Earls, Barons and high officials of the nation, while Patents were addressed 
only to those whom they concerned and were tested by the King himself. 

It must, however, be remembered that the word Charta also stood for a 
Deed between private individuals and also between the King and his grantees 
as conveying estates and privileges. 



32 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

and of others our liegemen have in the first place granted 
to GOD and by this, our present charter, have confirmed 
for us and our heirs forever : 

1. That the English Church shall be free and shall 
have its rights entire and its liberties unimpaired, and 
we wish it to be so observed as appears from this, that, 
by our own unconstrained and free will, before the dis- 
cord arose between us and our barons, we granted and 
confirmed by our charter that freedom of elections which 
is considered most necessary for the English Church 
and obtained its confirmation by our lord Pope Innocent 
III, and which we will observe and ordain to be observed 
in good faith by our heirs forever. 

2. We have also granted to all the freemen of our 
kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwrit- 
ten liberties to be had and held by them and their heirs 
of us and our heirs : 

If any one of our earls, or barons, or others holding 
of us in chief by military service shall die, and when he 
shall die his heir shall be of full age and owe relief, he 
may have his inheritance by the ancient relief; that is 
to say, the heir, or heirs, of an earl, for the whole 
barony of an earl, by (the payment of) £100; the heir, 
or heirs, of a baron, for the whole barony, by £100; the 
heir, or heirs, of a knight, for a whole knight's fee, by 
100 s. at most ; and he who shall owe less, shall give less, 
according to the ancient custom of fiefs (i. e., feudum, fief 
or fee). 

3. If, however, the heir of any one of such shall be 
under age and shall be in wardship, he can have his 
inheritance without relief and without fine when he 
comes of age. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 33 

4. The guardian of the land of such an heir who is 
under age shall not take from the land of the heir, save 
only reasonable issues, reasonable customs and reasonable 
services, and this without destruction and waste of men 
or of property. And if we shall have committed the cus- 
tody (i. e.. the wardship) of any such land to a sheriff, 
or to any other who shall be under obligation to answer 
to us concerning the issues of such, and he shall make 
destruction or waste concerning the wardship, we will 
take amends from him, and the land shall be committed 
to two lawful and discreet men of that fief who shall an- 
swer to us concerning the issues or to him to whom we 
shall assign them. And if we shall have given or sold 
the wardship of any such land to anyone, and he shall 
thereafter make destruction or waste, he shall lose that 
wardship and it shall be transferred to two lawful and 
discreet men of that fee who shall be responsible to us 
in like manner as above stated. 

5. The guardian, however, so long as he may have the 
custody of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, en- 
closures, fish-ponds, mills, and the other things apper- 
taining to that land, out of the issues of the same land, 
and shall return to the heir when he arrives at full age 
all his land replenished with ploughs and instruments of 
agriculture according as the time of husbandry shall re- 
quire and the issues of the land may be reasonably able 
to sustain. 

6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement and 
so that before the marriage is contracted it shall be an- 
nounced to the next of blood of the heir himself. 

7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall have 
her marriage-portion and her inheritance immediately and 



34 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

without difficulty, nor shall she give anything for her 
dower, or for her marriage-portion, or from her inheri- 
tance which inheritance her husband and she shall have 
held on the day of the death of the husband; and she 
may remain in the home of her husband for forty days 
after his .death, within which her dower shall be assigned 
to her. 

8. No widow shall be distrained (i. e., compelled by 
the seizure of goods) to marry while she wishes to live 
without a husband, yet, for all that, she shall give se- 
curity that she will not marry without our assent, if she 
holds of us, or without the assent of her lord of whom she 
holds, if she holds of another. 

9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or 
rent for any debt as long as the chattels of the debtor 
are sufficient for the payment of the debt, nor shall the 
sureties of the debtor himself be distrained as long as the 
principal debtor provides for the payment of the debt ; 
and if the principal debtor shall fail in the payment of 
the debt, not then having wherewith he can pay, the sure- 
ties shall answer for the debt and, if they desire, they 
may have the lands and rents of the debtor until satis- 
faction shall be made to them concerning the debt which 
they shall have paid theretofore for him, unless the prin- 
cipal debtor shall show himself to be acquitted therefrom 
against these same sureties. 

10. If any one shall borrow anything from the Jews, 
more or less, and die before that debt be paid, the debt 
shall not bear interest as long as the heir shall be under 
age from whomsoever he may hold ; and if that debt 
shall fall into our hands we will only take the principal 
mentioned in the deed. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 35 

11. And if any one die and owe a debt to the Jews, 
his wife shall have her dower and shall pay nothing of 
that debt; and if there remain children of the deceased 
who are under age, necessaries, according to the holding 
which the deceased shall have had, shall be provided 
for them, and the debt shall be paid from the residue, 
saving the service of the lord. In like manner let it be 
done concerning the debts which are owed to others as 
well as to the Jews. 

12. No scutage or aid shall be levied in our kingdom 
unless by the common counsel of our kingdom, except for 
the purpose of ransoming our body, for making our eldest 
son a knight, and once for marrying our eldest daughter ; 
and for these only a reasonable aid shall be made. In 
like manner it shall be done concerning the aids of the 
City of London. 

13. And the City of London shall have all its ancient 
liberties and its free customs as well by land as by water. 
Also we will and grant that all other cities, boroughs, 
towns and ports shall have all their liberties and free 
customs. 

14. And for the purpose of having the common counsel 
of the kingdom concerning the assessment of an aid, other 
than in the three cases aforesaid, or concerning the as- 
sessment of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the 
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and greater barons 
singly by our letters. And, in addition thereto, we will 
cause to be summoned in general by our sheriffs and bail- 
iffs all those who hold of us in chief to a day certain, 
namely, at the end of forty days at least and to a fixed 
place. And, in all the letters of such summons, we will 
state the cause of the summons ; and, the summons hav- 



36 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

ing been thus made, the business shall proceed on the 
day appointed according to the counsel of those who 
shall be present although not all summoned shall have 
come. 

15. We will not grant, henceforth, to any one that 
he may take an aid from his free-tenants except for ran- 
soming his body, for making his eldest son a knight, and 
once for marrying his eldest daughter — and for these only 
a reasonable aid shall be made. 

16. No one shall be distrained to perform greater serv- 
ice for a knight's fee, nor on account of any other free- 
holding, than is due thence. . 

17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall 
be held in some certain place. 

18. Recognitions of Novel Disseisin, of Mort d 'Ancestor 
and of Darrein Presentment shall only be taken in their 
own counties and in this manner: We, or if we be out of 
the kingdom, our chief justiciary, will send two justiciar- 
ies through every county four times a year who, with 
four knights of each county elected by the county, shall 
hold the aforesaid assizes in the county and upon the 
day and at the place of the county court. 

19. And if the above-mentioned assizes cannot be held 
on the day of the county court, so many knights and free- 
holders (as may be necessary) shall remain from those 
who attended the county court on that day by whom 
judgments sufficient will be able to be made according 
as the business shall be great or small. 

20. A freeman (i. e., freeholder) shall not be amerced 
for a small offence except according to the measure of 
the offence ; and, for a great offence, he shall be amerced 
in accordance with the magnitude of the offence, saving 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 3 7 

his holding (i. e., his means of livelihood to maintain 
his position) ; and a merchant in the same manner, sav- 
ing his merchandise; and a villein shall be amerced in 
the same manner, saving his instruments of agriculture — 
if they shall have fallen under our judicial mercy : and 
none of the aforesaid penalties shall be imposed except 
by the oath of honest men of the neighborhood. 

21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except by 
their peers and only in accordance with the measure of 
the offence. 

22. No clerk shall be amerced of his lay holding ex- 
cept in accordance with the manner of the others afore- 
said, and not in accordance with the extent of his ecclesi- 
astical benefice. 

23. Neither a town nor a person shall be distrained 
to build bridges at rivers, except those who are bound 
from former times and by law to build. 

24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or our other bail- 
iffs, shall hold pleas of our crown. 

25. All counties and hundreds, trithings and wapen- 
takes, shall remain at the ancient rents without any in- 
crease, excepting our demesne manors. 

26. If any one holding of us a lay fief die and our 
sheriff, or bailiff, show our letters-patent of our summons 
for a debt which the deceased owed to us, it shall be law- 
ful for our sheriff, or bailiff, to attach and register the 
chattels of the deceased found in the lay fief to the value 
of that debt, under the supervision of lawful men ; so 
that nothing may be removed thence until the debt which 
has been liquidated (i. e., the amount of which has been de- 
termined) shall be paid to us. and the residue shall be re- 
linquished to the executors for carrying out the will of 



38 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

the deceased; and if nothing is owed to us by him, all the 
chattels shall fall to (the estate of) the deceased, saving 
to his wife and children their reasonable shares. 

27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall 
be distributed by the hands of his near relations and 
friends under the supervision of the Church, saving to 
every one the debts which the deceased owed to him. 

28. No constable, or other bailiff of ours, shall take 
corn or other chattels of any one unless immediately 
thereupon he shall pay money (therefor), or shall be able 
to obtain a respite therefrom at the will of the vendor. 

29. No constable (i. e.. constable of a castle) shall dis- 
train any knight to give money in place of castle-guard 
if he shall be willing to keep that guard in his own proper 
person or by another honest man if he himself is not able 
to perform it on account of a reasonable cause; and, if 
we shall have led, or sent, him in the army he shall be 
quit of guard, according to the amount of time he shall 
have been in the army through us. 

30. No sheriff, or our bailiff, or any other, shall take 
the horses or carts of any freeman for the purposes of 
transportation except with the consent of that freeman. 

31. Neither we nor our bailiffs will take the wood of 
another for castles or our other works except with the 
consent of the one whose wood it is. 

32. We will not hold the lands of those who shall have 
been convicted of felony except for a year and a day, and 
then the lands shall be returned to the lords of the fees. 

33. All the fish-weirs shall be entirely removed from 
the Thames and Medway and through all England except 
alonsr the sea-coast. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 39 

34. The writ which is called Praecipe shall not be issued 
henceforth to any one concerning any holding whereby 
a freeman may lose his court. 

35. There shall be one measure of wine throughout our 
whole kingdom ; and one measure of ale ; and one measure 
of corn, to wit, the London quarter; and one width of 
dyed cloth and of russets and haberjects, to wit, two ells 
within the lists. Of weights, it also shall be as with 
measures. 

36. Nothing henceforth shall be given or taken for 
the writ of inquisition of life and limbs but it shall be 
granted without charge and not denied. 

37. If any one hold of us by fee-farm, or by socage, 
or by burgage, and hold land of another by knight-serv- 
ice, we will not have the guardianship of the heir nor of 
his land which is of the fief of another on account of that 
fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless the fee-farm itself 
owe knight-service. We will not have the guardianship 
of the heir, or of the land of any one which he holds of 
another by knight-service, on account of any petty-ser- 
jeanty which he may hold of us by the service of render- 
ing to us daggers, or arrows, or the like. 

38. No bailiff henceforth shall bring any one to law 
(i. e., shall accuse and cause any one to defend himself) 
upon his simple accusation without credible witnesses in- 
troduced for this purpose. 

39. No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or 
disseised, or exiled, or in any wise destroyed, nor will we 
send against him, or go against him, unless by the law- 
ful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land. 

40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or 
delay, right or .justice. 



4 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

41. All merchants shall have safety and security to go 
out of England and to come into England (and) to stay 
and travel throughout England, as well b}^ land as by 
water, for the purpose of buying and selling, without 
any evil taxation, by the ancient and right customs, ex- 
cept in time of war and if they are from a country in a 
state of war against us; and if such are found in our 
land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained 
without injury of bodies or properties until it may be 
learned by us, or by our chief justiciary, in what manner 
the merchants of our land who shall be found in the land 
at war against us shall be treated, and if ours shall be 
safe there, the others shall be safe in our land. 

42. It shall be lawful henceforth to depart from our 
kingdom and to return in safety and security, by land and 
by water, saving our allegiance (i. e., the fealty due), 
unless for a short period in time of war on account of the 
common welfare of the kingdom, excepting (those) im- 
prisoned and outlawed according to the law of the land, 
and the people of the country at Avar against us. and the 
merchants concerning whom it shall be done as afore- 
stated. 

43. If any- one hold of some escheat as of the Honor 
of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of 
other escheats which are in our hand (i. e., custody) and 
are Baronies, and he shall die, his heir shall not give 
other relief nor make other service to us than he would 
do to the baron if that barony were in the hand of the 
baron, and we will hold it in the same manner in which 
the baron held it. 

44. Men who dwell without the forest shall not come 
hereafter before our justiciaries of the forest on account 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 41 

of a general summons, unless they are impleaded, or sure- 
ties of any person, or persons, who have been attached 
for the forest. 

■45. We will not make justices, constables, sheriffs, or 
bailiffs, except from such who know the law of the realm 
and wish to observe it faithfully. 

46. All barons who have founded abbeys whereof they 
have charters of the Kings of England, or an ancient 
tenure, shall have the custody of them when they shall be 
vacant as they ought to have. 

47. All forests which have been afforested in our time 
shall be disafforested immediately, and likewise shall it 
be done concerning river-banks which have been placed 
in preserve by us in our time. 

48. All evil customs of forests and warrens, and of 
foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, rivers 
and their wardens, shall be enquired into immediately 
in every county by twelve sworn knights of the same 
county who ought to be elected by the honest men of the 
same county, and, within forty days after the inquest 
made, shall be utterly abolished by them in such manner 
that they may never be restored, provided that we first 
be acquainted with this, or our justiciary, if we shall not 
have been in England. 

49. We will immediately return all hostages and char- 
ters which have been delivered to us by Englishmen for 
the security of peace or of faithful service. 

50. We will entirely remove from (their) bailiwicks 
the relations of Gerard de Athyes so that henceforth they 
shall hold no office of trust; (namely), Engelard de Cy- 
gony, Andrew, Peter and Guy de Chancele, Guy de Cy- 
gony, Geoffrey de Martin and his brothers, Philip Mark 



42 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

and his brothers and Geoffrey, his nephew, and their 
whole following. 

51. And immediately after the restoration of peace, 
we will remove from the kingdom all foreign knights, 
cross-bowmen (and) stipendiary soldiers, who have come 
with horses and arms to the hurt of the kingdom. 

52. If any one has been disseised or deprived by us, 
without the legal judgment of his peers, of lands, castles, 
liberties, or his right, we will restore them to him at once, 
and if a dispute shall arise over this matter, then it shall 
be decided by the judgment of the twenty-five barons 
concerning whom mention is made below in the case of 
the security of peace. 

However, concerning all those things of which any 
one shall have been disseised or deprived, without the 
legal judgment of his peers, by King Henry, our father, 
or by King Richard, our brother, which we have in our 
hand, or which others hold which we are bound to war- 
rant, we shall have a respite for the common term of 
the crusaders (i. e., until the general conclusion of the 
crusade), excepting those things about which a plea has 
been entered, or an inquest made, by our order before our 
taking the cross, but when we shall return from our pil- 
grimage, or if, perchance, we shall remain away from our 
pilgrimage, we will immediately thereafter display ample 
justice (to all). 

53. "We shall have, moreover, the same respite, and in 
the same manner display justice, concerning disafforest- 
ing the forests or retaining the forests which Henry, our 
father, or Richard, our brother, afforested, and concern- 
ing the custody (i. e., wardship) of lands which are of 
the fief of another and of which we have had wardships 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 43 

of this kind by reason of the fief which any one held of 
us by knight-service, and concerning abbeys which have 
been founded in some other fee than our own, in which 
the lord of the fief has claimed for himself the right, and 
when we shall return, or if we shall remain away from 
our pilgrimage, we will immediately display ample jus- 
tice to those complaining. 

54. No one shall be taken or imprisoned on account of 
the appeal of a woman for the death of any other than her 
husband. 

55. All fines (i. e., compositions) which have been made 
by us unjustly and against the law of the land, and all 
amercements made unjustly and against the law of the 
land shall be remitted entirely, or thereupon it shall be 
decided by the judgment of the twenty-five barons con- 
cerning whom mention is made below in the case of the 
security of peace, or by the judgment of the majority 
of them together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, if he shall be able to be present, and with 
others whom he may wish to summon with him for this 
matter, and if he shall not be able to be present, the 
business shall nevertheless proceed without him ; but in 
such wise that if any one or more of the aforesaid twenty- 
five barons shall be in a similar suit they shall be removed 
as far as relates to this judgment and others elected and 
sworn in their place shall be substituted by the remain- 
der of the twenty-five (barons) so far as relates to the 
accomplishment of this matter. 

56. If we have disseised or deprived Welshmen of 
lands, or liberties, or other things, without the lawful 
judgment of their peers in England or in Wales, they 
shall be restored to them at once, and if a dispute shall 



44 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

arise over this, it shall thereupon be decided in the 
Marches by the judgment of their peers, concerning tene- 
ments of England according to the law of England, con- 
cerning tenements of Wales according to the law of 
Wales, concerning tenements of the Marches according 
to the law of the Marches. Welshmen shall do the same 
to us and ours. 

57. However, concerning those things of which any 
Welshman has been disseised or deprived without the law- 
ful judgment of his peers by King Henry, our father, ot 
King Richard, our brother, which we have in our hand 
or which others hold which we ought to warrant, we shall 
have a respite for the common term of the crusaders, ex- 
cepting those about which complaint has been moved or 
inquisition made by our order before our taking the cross. 
However, when we return or if, by chance, we shall re- 
main away from our pilgrimage, we will immediately dis- 
play ample justice to them according to the laws of the 
Welsh and the parts aforesaid. 

58. We will return immediately the son of Llewelyn 
and all the hostages from Wales and the charters which 
have been delivered to us for the security of peace. 

59. We shall act toward Alexander, King of the Scots, 
concerning the restoration of his sisters and hostages and 
concerning his liberties and his right, after the manner 
in which we will act to our other barons of England un- 
less it ought to be otherwise according to the charters 
which we hold from William, his father, formerly King 
of the Scots, and this shall be by the judgment of his 
peers in our court. 

60. Moreover, all the aforesaid customs and liberties, 
the upholding (of which) we have granted in our king- 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 45 

dom as far as pertains to us towards our people, all of our 
kingdom, as well clergy as laity, shall observe as far as 
pertains to them towards their people (i. e., tenants). 

61. But while, for GOD and the amendment of our 
kingdom and the better settlement of the discord which 
has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted 
all those matters above written, wishing them to rejoice 
in a complete and firm stability forever, we make and 
grant to them the underwritten security : to wit, that the 
barons shall choose twenty-five barons, whom they wish 
from the kingdom, who shall be obliged with all their 
power to observe, hold and cause to be observed, the 
peace and liberties which we have granted to them and 
by this, our present charter, have confirmed ; namely this, 
that if we, or our justiciary, or our bailiffs, or other of 
our officers shall have done wrong in anything against 
any one or shall have violated any of the articles of 
peace or security, and the offence shall have been shown 
to four of the aforesaid twenty-five barons, those four 
barons shall come before us or to our justiciary, if we 
shall be out of the kingdom, (and) showing the violation 
to us, shall petition that we cause that violation to be cor- 
rected without delay. And if we shall not have corrected 
that violation or, if we shall be out of the kingdom, our 
justiciary shall not have corrected it within a term of 
forty days, computing from the time at which it was 
shown to us, or to our justiciary, if we were out of the 
kingdom, the four barons aforesaid shall refer the cause 
to the remainder of those twenty-five barons and they, 
the twenty-five barons, together with the commonalty of 
the whole land, shall distrain and molest us in every 
way in which they are able ; that is to say, by the capture 



46 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

of our castles, lands, possessions, and by all other means 
by which they are able, until the violation shall have 
been corrected according to their will, saving our person 
and (the persons) of our queen and children; and, when 
it shall have been corrected, they shall act toward us as 
they did previously. 

And whoever of our land wishes may swear that, for 
the accomplishment of all the matters aforesaid, he will 
obey the mandates of the twenty-five barons above men- 
tioned, and that he, together with them, will distrain and 
molest us as much as possible ; and we publicly and freely 
give permission to swear to any one who desires to swear, 
and we will never prohibit any one to (so) swear. But 
all those of the land who of themselves and their own 
accord shall be unwilling to swear to the twenty-five 
barons to distrain and molest us together with them, we 
will cause them to swear by our mandate as above stated. 
And if any one of the twenty-five barons shall die, or 
leave the country, or be incapacitated in any other man- 
ner, so that he may not be able to execute these matters 
aforesaid, they who remain of the above-named twenty- 
five barons shall elect another in the place of that one, 
according to their judgment, who shall be sworn in a 
similar manner and as the others. But in all things which 
have been committed to those twenty-five barons for the 
purpose of execution if, by chance, the twenty-five barons 
shall be present and shall disagree among themselves 
about any particular matter, or some of those summoned 
shall be unwilling or unable to attend, that which the 
majority of those present shall have provided, or ordered, 
shall be held ratified and approved and as if all the 
twenty-five had agreed therein. And the aforesaid twenty- 
five shall swear that they will faithfully observe all the 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 47 

above-mentioned matters and, with their utmost ability, 
will cause them to be observed. 

And we will obtain nothing from any one, by ourselves 
or through another, by which any of these grants or 
liberties may be revoked or diminished, and if such thing 
shall be done, it shall be null and void and we will never 
use it by ourselves or through another. 

62. And we have fully remitted and pardoned to every- 
one all the ill-will, rage, and rancor which has arisen be- 
tween us and our subjects, clergy and laity, from the time 
of the discord. We have fully remitted, moreover, to all, 
clergy and laity, and, as far as pertains to us, have fully 
pardoned all transgressions from Easter, in the sixteenth 
year of our reign, to the re-establishment of peace. And, 
over and above, we have caused to be made for them tes- 
timonial letters-patent of the lord Stephen, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, of the lord Henry, Archbishop of Dublin, 
and of the aforesaid bishops and of Master Pandulf about 
the security and the above-made grants. 

63. Wherefore, we will and firmly decree that the 
English Church shall be free and that the men in our 
kingdom shall have and hold all the aforesaid rights and 
grants, truly and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully 
and entirely, for themselves and their heirs, of us and our 
heirs, in all matters and places, forever, as above stated. 

It has been sworn, moreover, as well on our part as on 
the part of the barons, that all the matters aforesaid shall 
be kept in good faith and without evil intent. 

Witnessed by the above-named and by many others. 

Given by our hand in the meadow which is called Run- 
nymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth 
day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign. 

(J. L. 8.) 



48 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

The barons demanded some assurance from King John 
that he would observe the terms of Magna Charta and 
would not oppose the execution of any of its provisions 
and to this end the following agreement was made. It is 
not dated, but it is thought it was executed the latter 
part of June, 1215. 

Agreement Made Between the King of England and 
the Barons of that Kingdom. 

This is the Agreement between our lord John, King of 
England, on the one part, and Robert Fitz- Walter Mar- 
shal of the Army of GOD and of the Holy Church of En- 
gland, and Richard Earl of Clare, Geoffrey Earl of Essex 
and Gloucester, Robert Bigod Earl of Norfolk and Suf- 
folk, Saher Earl of Winchester, Robert Earl of Oxford, 
Henry Earl of Hereford, and the following-named Barons, 
to wit; William Maresehall junior, Eustace de Vescy, 
William de Mobray, John Fitz-Robert, Roger de Monte- 
Begon, William de Lanvalay. and other Earls and Barons 
and Freemen of the whole kingdom on the other part, 
namely ; 

That they, the earls, barons and others above-written, 
shall hold the City of London as bail from our lord the 
King, saving, in the meantime, to our lord the King, his 
rents, revenues and clear dues, to the Feast of the As- 
sumption of the Blessed Mary, in the seventeenth year of 
the reign of the King. 

And the lord of Canterbury shall hold similarly, as bail 
from our lord the King, the Tower of London for the 
aforesaid term, saving to the City of London its liberties 
and free customs, and saving to every one his right to 
the care of the Tower of London. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 4 9 

And that, in the meantime, our lord the King, will not 
place a guard or other forces in the above-named City or 
in the Tower of London. 

Also, within the aforesaid term, oaths shall be made 
throughout all England to the twenty-five barons as it is 
contained in the charter concerning the liberties conceded 
and security for the kingdom ; or to the attorneys of the 
twenty-five barons, as it is contained in the writs concern- 
ing the elections of the twelve knights for abolishing the 
evil customs of the forests and other. 

And. moreover, within the same term, all the things 
which the earls, barons and other freemen ask of our lord 
the King, which he himself has declared should be re- 
stored, or which shall be judged by the twenty-five barons, 
or by the majority of them, ought to be restored, shall 
be restored according to the tenor of the aforesaid charter. 

And if these things shall be done, or if the performance 
of these things is not withstood by our lord the King, 
then the City and the Tower of London shall be immedi- 
ately returned to our lord the King at that same term, 
saving to the City aforesaid its liberties and free customs 
as above written. 

But if these things shall not be done and the perform- 
ance of them is withstood by our lord the King so that 
they shall not have been done within the term aforesaid, 
the barons shall hold the City aforesaid and the lord Arch- 
bishop shall hold the Tower of London until the matters 
aforesaid shall be completed ; and, in the meantime, every- 
one, on both sides, shall recover the lands, castles and 
towns which they had in the beginning of the war which 
has arisen between our lord the King and the barons. 

(J. L. S.) 



50 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

The following may be regarded as explanatory of the 
Great Charter in so far as the practical details surrounding 
its issuance are concerned and to be taken in connection 
with the Agreement for the custody of the City and 
Tower of London above printed. 

Letters of Safe-Conduct to the Barons. 

The King to all who shall see these Letters, greeting: 

Know ye, that we have taken into our safe conduct all 
those who shall come on the part of the barons to Staines 
on Tuesday in the week of Pentecost, in the seventeenth 
year of our reign, in coming thither and returning and in 
making their stay there, for the purpose of making and 
establishing peace between us and the same barons. 

Moreover this (safe-) conduct shall continue until the 
close of the following Thursday. And in (testimony) of 
this etc. 

Witnessed by Myself, at Merton, on the eighth day of 
June, in the seventeenth year of our reign. 

Letters Concerning the Enquiry into Evil Customs. 

The King to the Sheriff, Foresters, Warreners, Keepers 
of Rivers and to all Bailiffs in the same County, 
greeting: 
Know ye, that a firm peace has been made again, by 
the grace of GOD, between us and the barons and free 
men of our kingdom as you are able to hear and see 
through our Charter which we have just caused to be 
made and which also we order to be read publicly through 
your entire bailiwick and firmly to be observed; (We) 
willing and urgently commanding that you, the Sheriff, 
do cause all from your bailiwick, according to the form 
of the Charter, to make oath to the twenty-five barons. 
of whom mention is made in the Charter, at the com- 
mand of these or of the majority of them, before them or 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 51 

those whom they have appointed (as their attorneys) for 
this matter by their letters patent, and at the time and 
place which the aforesaid barons, or those appointed by 
them for this purpose, shall have appointed for it to be 
done. Also we will and command that the twelve knights 
of your county, who shall be elected from the same county 
in the first county-court which shall be held after the 
receipt of these letters in your districts, shall take an 
oath to enquire into the evil customs of sheriffs as well as 
of their officers, of forests (and) foresters, of warrens 
and warreners, rivers and their keepers, and destroy them 
as is contained in the same Charter. 

All you, therefore, as you respect us and our honor 
and the peace of our kingdom, shall observe inviolably, 
and shall cause to be observed by everyone, all things 
contained in the Charter ; lest on account of your neglect 
or through your digression, it may happen that the peace 
of our kingdom may be again disturbed, which GOD pre- 
vent. And you. Sheriff, shall cause our peace to be pro- 
claimed through your entire bailiwick and shall command 
it firmly to be preserved. 

And in (testimony) of this etc. Ave send (these letters) 
to you. 

Witnessed by myself at Runnymede on the nineteenth 
day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign. 

Letters to Dismiss Foreign Troops. 

The King to Hugh de Bova, greeting: 

We order you that as you are loyal to us you will not de- 
tain any of the knights or soldiers who are at Dover but 
will cause them to go, peacefully (and) without delay, into 
their own country. 

And in (testimony) of this etc. 

Witnessed by myself, at Runnymede, on the twenty- 
third day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign. 



52 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Letters to the Sheriffs and the Twelve Knights. 

The King to the Sheriff of Warwick and to the Twelve 
Knights elected in the same County for the purpose 
of enquiring into and abolishing the evil customs of 
sheriffs and their officers, of forests and foresters, of 
warrens and warreners. of rivers and their keepers, 
greeting : 

We command you, that, instantly and without delay, 
you take into our possession the lands, tenements and 
chattels of all those of the County of Warwick who shall 
have refused to make oath to the twenty-five barons ac- 
cording to the form contained in our Charter of Liberties, 
or to those whom they have appointed for this purpose, 
and, if they shall be unwilling to make oath immediately 
after the fifteen days are completed, you shall cause to be 
sold all the chattels which shall have been seized, except 
the lands, tenements and chattels of those taken in our 
possession, and the money thence collected, being destined 
for the Holy Land, you shall retain in safe custody. 

But you shall hold their lands and tenements in our 
possession until they shall make oath, and this has been 
provided through the judgment of the Lord Archbishop 
of Canterbury and the Barons of our kingdom. 

And in (testimony) of this etc. 

Witnessed by me at Winchester, on the twenty-seventh 
day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign. 

The same has been commanded to all the sheriffs of 
England. 



Tribes inhabiting England and Wales at the time of the 
Roman Invasion. The number and territory of these 
tribes cannot be exactly ascertained, but the following 
table may give an idea of the condition of the island at 
that time : 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 53 

I. Atrebatii — Berkshire. 

II. Belgae — Somerset, Wiltshire, Isle of Wight, 
Hants. 

III. Brigautes — Yorkshire, Lancashire, AVestmoreland, 

Cumberland and Durham. 

IV. Cantii — Kent. 

V. Catyeuehlani — Bedfordsire, Bucks and Hertford- 
shire. 
VI. Coritani — Northamptonshire, Leicester, Rutland, 

Lincoln, Nottingham and Derby. 
VII. Cornabii and Damnonii — Cornwall and Devon- 
shire. 
VIII. Cornavii — Warwick, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staf- 
ford and Worcestershire. 
IX. Dimetae — Caermarthen, Pembroke and Cardigan- 
shire. 
X. Dobuni — Gloucester and Oxfordshire. 
XI. Durotriges — Dorsetshire. 
XII. Iceni — Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge and Hunting- 
donshire. 

XIII. Ordovices — North Wales. 

XIV. Otaduni — Northumberland. 

XV. Regni — Surrey, Sussex and South Hants. 
XVI. Silures — South Wales. 
XVII. Trinobantes — Middlesex and Essex. 

The Romans divided Great Britain into the following- 
named divisions or provinces : 

I. Britannia Prima, being the country south of the 
Thames and Severn. 
II. Britannia Secunda, or the portion of the country 
now known as Wales. 

III. Flavia Caesariensis, embracing the central counties 

from the Dee on the north to the Thames on the 
south, and from the eastern boundary of Britan- 
nia Secunda to the AVash and North Sea. 

IV. Maxima Caesariensis, from the Dee on the south to 

the Avail of Adrian (which extended between the 



54 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

mouth of the River Tyne to the Solway) on the 
north. 
V. Valentia, from the wall of Adrian on the south to 
the rampart of Agrieola (which extended from 
the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde and was 
afterward restored and called the Wall of An- 
tonine, or Graham's Dyke) on the north. 
VI. Caledonia, that part of Britain north of the ram- 
part of Agrieola. 

The Heptarchy. The number oi the Anglo-Saxon king- 
doms varied from time to time and it has been said that 
at no time were there precisely seven independent king- 
doms, as the name would indicate. 

The Anglo-Saxon period, especially from 449 to 827, is 
so confused in the sparse annals and chronicles of the 
time that it is impossible to speak with historical cer- 
tainty of the exact relations of these principalities, as 
well as give exact dates. There are, however, certain 
facts which we do know from the accounts of this time, 
and it is from these that we can state that there were 
seven of these kingdoms, founded by the Jutes, the An- 
gles and the Saxons, which stood out in a prominent 
way; and, from time to time, one of them would appear 
to be on the verge of assuming the sovereignty of the 
others. This did not occur until the time of Egbert, as 
we have heretofore seen, although there is some dis- 
pute as to whether Egbert should be called the first 
Anglo-Saxon, or English, king; that is, whether he pos- 
sessed that power which made him a sovereign over all 
of Angla-land. The following are the kingdoms of the 
so-called Heptarchy, together with the approximate time 
of their several foundations and the names of their first 
leaders, or kings : 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 55 

(Plengist and Horsa land at Ebbsfieet. Thanet, in 
449 A. D.) 

I. Kent, founded by the Jutes under llengist, 457 

A. D. 
IT. South Saxons, or Sussex (comprising Sussex and 
Surrev), founded by the Saxons under Ella, 
491 A. D. 

III. West Saxons, or Wessex (comprising the country 

west of Sussex and south of the Thames, except 
Cornwall), founded by the Saxons under Cerdic, 
519 A. D. 

IV. East Saxons, or Essex (comprising Essex and Mid- 

dlesex), founded by the Saxons under Ercenwin, 
527 A. D. This division was between Kent and 
Sussex on the south and Mercia and East Anglia 
on the north. 
V. Northumbria, the land north of the ITumber (lying 
between Mercia on the south and the Firth of 
Forth on the north), founded by the Angles un- 
der Ida, 547 A. D. This kingdom was divided 
at first into the two states of Bernicia and Deira 
which began to unite in 588 A. D. 
VI. East Anglia (comprising Norfolk [North-Folk], 
Suffolk [South Folk] and Cambridge), founded 
by the Angles under Uffa, 575 A. D. 

VII. Mercia (composed of what are now the midland 
counties), founded bv the Angles under Cridda, 
582 A. D. 
The three principal kingdoms which contended for 

supremacy were Northumbria, Mercia and the . West 

Saxons. 

Early Anglo-Saxon Leaders. From time to time during 
the Anglo-Saxon period, leaders would appear who, from 
their ability, would be regarded by the kings of the other 
tribes of the Heptarchy as chief among them. The term 
of "bretwalda" is sometimes used to distinguish them, 



56 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

but it is questionable just what power this term implies. 
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives the list of seven kings, 
prior to Egbert, who "were sovereigns of all the British 
dominions," and while they might have been elected as 
generals over all the other kings of the Heptarchy, yet 
they certainly did not possess the power now expressed 
by the word sovereignty: (1) Ella, king of the South- 
Saxons; (2) Ceawlin, king of the West-Saxons; (3) 
Ethelbert, king of Kent; (4) Redwald, king of the East- 
Angles; (5) Edwin, king of the Northumbrians; (6) Os- 
Avald, king of the Northumbrians; (7) Oswy, the brother 
of Oswald. 

SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND. 

(General Note — The ascertainment of exact dates is dif- 
ficult, if not impossible, in a number of instances, for 
many reasons. Particularly is this true of the regnal dates, 
and of dates generally, in the earlier periods. Indeed the 
difficulties incident to the exact computation of dates ex- 
tend to a comparatively late period when it is considered 
that the Gregorian Calendar was not adopted in England 
until 1752, and that even in the Middle Ages ecclesiastical 
and local methods were in use beside the Julian Calendar 
and the Christian Era. There arc apparently conflicting 
statements, particularly by the older chroniclers, which 
cannot now be reconciled. Added to these difficulties, 
different ideas, usages and laws prevailed at different 
periods in regard to the beginning of a reign.) 

Anglo-Saxon (Saxon) Kings. 

Note — Dates given for this period cannot always be 
stated with historical accuracy. The authorities, from 
which our knowledge of this period is gleaned, such as 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 57 

the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede and others, do not give 
us the certainty desired as to date of the occurrences 
mentioned and described by them. Nor do they give us 
a full account of the happenings of the times, so that in 
many instances Ave are obliged to draw our own conclu- 
sions, or inferences, as to the effects of the facts they have 
stated. 

There were, no doubt, periods of time when the strug- 
gles for supremacy may have caused interregnums, or di- 
vided authorities, but the exact effects of which are hard 
to determine. 

Thus, if we regard Ethelbald and Ethelbert as reigning 
together, the one over the one part of the kingdom of 
Ethelwolf, the other over the other part, with equal sove- 
reign power, we have Ethelbald-Ethelbert, 858 to 860; 
Ethelbert, 860 to 866; that is, Ethelbert would begin his 
joint reign with Ethelbald in 858, his sole reign in 860. 
If we regard Ethelbald as taking the chief sovereignty 
from his father, Ethelwolf, and Ethelbert as taking a 
part of the kingdom without full regal power, we have 
Ethelbald 858-860. So, it may be noted, Ethelred II fled 
from his kingdom in 1012 or 1013, and some contend this 
was an abdication which continued until he returned, or 
was restored, in 1015. As Sweyn had received the sub- 
mission of most of the nobles and was virtual king, it is 
difficult to decide whether Sweyn should be recognized 
as a king or simply as an usurper. From more modern 
usage it is thought that he should be regarded in the lat- 
ter light, although he actually set up a rival throne which 
continued for six or eight weeks, from December. 1013, 
until his death in February, 1014. 



58 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

There is also the difficulty experienced in the Harold 
and Hardicanute reigns as to the dates to be assigned. 

As for the actual difference in dates given by different 
authorities, it is to be noted that some claim Egbert died 
in the years 836, others that he died in 837, and still 
others assert that his death took place in 839. Edwy's 
death is fixed in the year 957, and also in the year 959. 
Alfred's death is placed either in 899, 900 or 901. 

It will be seen from the above that there is great diffi- 
culty attending the fixing of the dates of this period. 

It must also be remembered that the idea that there 
would be no vacancy in the throne did not grow up until 
a much later period after the Anglo-Saxon times and that 
kingship was considered at first as an elective office and 
that the custom grew to give it to the son of the de- 
ceased monarch. Just when this custom became, in effect, 
a binding rule it is hard to determine, but it must have 
had such force shortly after the time of Egbert. 

Egbert— A. D. 827-836 (or 837 or 839). 

Ethelwolf— A. D. 836-858 (or 857). 
(Ethelbald— A. D. 858-860. 
/Ethelbert— A. D. 860-866. 

Ethelred— A. D. 866-871 (or 872). 

Alfred (the Great)— A. D. 871-901 (or 899 or 900). 

Edward I (the Elder)— A. D. 901-925. 

Athelstan— A. D. 925-941 (or 940). 

Edmund— A. D. 941-946 (or 947). 

Edred— A. D. 946-955. 

Edwy (Edwin)— A. D. 955-959. 

Edgar— A. D. 959-975. 

Edward II (the Martvr)— A. D. 975-978. 

Ethelred (the Unready)— A. D. 978-1016. 

Edmund Ironside— A. D. 1016-1016. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 5 9 

Danish Kings. 

Canute— A. I). 1016-1035 (or 1036). 

Harold I (Harefoot)— A. D. 1035-1040 (or 1039). 

Hardicanute— A. D. 1040-1042 (or 1041). 

Anglo-Saxon Line (Restored). 

Edward (the Confessor)— A. D. 1042-1066. 
Harold II— A. D. 1066— October 14. 1066. 



SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND. 
(From the time of the Norman Conquest.) 

Note — The ascertainment of regnal dates is important 
in English history. Not only is it interesting to know the 
exact time of the beginning of a reign, but it is essential 
in considering the statutes of the realm, which are dated 
by the method of computing their enactment from the 
beginning of a sovereign's rule. It is said that Richard I 
was the first English king to use this method. 

Every regnal year is in part of two calendar years 
unless the accession takes place on the first day of Janu- 
ary (which it has never done as yet) when the regnal and 
calendar years coincide in so far as the regnal year will 
begin and end with the calendar year, or unless the 
regnal year has been cut short by death, or other cause, 
before going from one calendar year into another. Thus 
the first regnal year of Edward VII began on 22 January. 
1901. and ended on 21 January, 1902. 

Different customs, usages and laws prevailed at differ- 
ent times for determining the beginning of a reip:n as well 
as for determining the one entitled by hereditary right 
subject to the election by the great men and magnates 
of the nation. 



60 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

In the earlier times, an eeelesiastical ceremony, a 
"crowning," or coronation, was considered necessary to 
the institution of a reign and was supposed to represent 
the consent of the kingdom on an elective principle. 

The period between the death of a king and the coro- 
nation of his successor was a period of great unrest and 
was considered in the nature of an interregnum. This 
continued from the time of William I to that of Henry III. 
Henry HI died on 16 November, 1272, while his son Ed- 
ward was abroad. On the burial of the king (20 Novem- 
ber, 1272), the barons and magnates swore fealty to Ed- 
ward at Westminster and while the new king did not 
return until 2 August, 1274, and was not crowned until 
19 August, 1274, yet his regnal years date from 20 No- 
vember, 1272. In this case the hereditary idea may be 
believed to have obtained greater recognition and impor- 
tance. Still the elective principle is fully shown for it 
was said of his successor, Edward II, that he succeeded 
to the throne not so much by hereditary right as by the 
unanimous consent of the nobles and great men ("nori 
ta/m jure haereditario, quarn ttnanhmi assensu proeerv/m 
et magnatum" i . 

From the death of Edward I to the time of Henry VIII, 
the beginning of a reign was fixed upon as the day fol- 
lowing the death, or deposition, of the preceding sovereign. 
The circumstances surrounding the accessions of Edward 
III, Edward IV, Edward V and Henry VII render them 
exceptions. 

The doctrine that the throne goes by the strict rule of 
descent in so far as the time of the vesting of the title 
is concerned, the right of succession being based on con- 
stitutional principles of which the Act of Settlement is 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 61 

an example, and that there shall be no hiatus in the sove- 
reignty — no interregnum — has been long established and 
is expressed by the legal maxim, "The King never dies 1 ' 
("Rex nunquarn moritur"). 

This usage has come down from the accession of Ed- 
ward VI and was legally approved by a decision, or reso- 
lution, of the barons and judges in passing upon the 
Statute of 1 Edward VI, Chap. 7. in the first (regnal) 
year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. They stated, "The 
King who is heir, or successor, may write and begin his 
reign the same day that his progenitor, or predecessor, 
died." 

A good illustration of this doctrine is found in the case 
of the period of the Commonwealth (1649-1660). which is 
sometimes styled an interregnum, although the judges un- 
der Charles II decided that he was the king during this 
time in fact, as well as in law. because as the English law 
recognized no other sovereign power than that of the 
king, any intervening administration was illegal and void. 
From this reasoning it followed that the statutes passed 
during the first year after the restoration of Charles II 
are quoted as acts passed in the twelfth year of his reign. 
While the reasoning that Charles II was, during this pe- 
riod, king de jure might be plausible, it is hard to un- 
derstand that he was king de facto. 

It may be well to note, in connection with the fol- 
loAving table, a few facts connected with the chronology 
of certain of the reigns : 

The beginning of the reign of William the Conqueror 
has occasioned much discussion. Some contend that it 
began on the date of the Battle of Hastings (or Battle 
of Senlac Hill, as it is also called), which took place on 



62 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

14 October, 1066. Others believe it should be reckoned, 
according to the ideas then prevailing and that William 
himself, by his formal coronation on 25 December, 1066, 
showed that it was his intention to reign not as con- 
queror but as lawful successor. 

Henry the Younger. Henry II had his eldest son 
Henry crowned as king and invested with the royal dig- 
nity at Westminster on 15 June, 1170, by Roger, Arch- 
bishop of York, and some of the older writers speak of 
the young prince as Henry III, or Henry the Younger. 

The coronation greatly offended the French king, Louis 
VII, whose daughter, Margaret, had been married to the 
young king at an early age, for Louis thought she (Mar- 
garet) should have been crowned as queen at the same 
time. It also offended Becket, who elaimed that he should 
have crowned the new king as this was one of the pre- 
rogatives of the See of Canterbury. 

In the year 1173, King Henry II had both Henry and 
Margaret crowned in order to satisfy the French king. 

As Henry II was so often away from England it is be- 
lieved that he had his eldest son crowned for two reasons, 
the first being in order to firmly establish his right of suc- 
cession and the second to enable this young prince to act 
as vice-regent, or deputy king, in his father's absence. 

Henry the Younger was born in A. D. 1155 and pre- 
deceased his father, dying in the year A. D. 1183. 

Matilda, or Maud, "the Empress," daughter and heir 
of King Henry I, was married to Henry V of Germany, 
who thereafter became Emperor of the Romans, whence 
Matilda was styled Empress. The Emperor dying 
A. D. 1125, Matilda returned to the court of her father, 
and was married, A. D. 1128, to Geoffrey (Plantagenet), 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 63 

son of Fulk, Count of Anjou. This match was extremely 
unpopular owing to the long enmity which had existed 
between Normandy and Anjou. 

Shortly after this marriage, Fulk accepted the throne 
of Jerusalem and Geoffrey became Geoffrey IV, Count of 
Anjou. 

Upon Matilda's return to England, Henry caused 
his magnates (among whom was his nephew Stephen, 
Count of Boulogne, and afterwards King Stephen) to 
swear allegiance and fealty to the Empress as his suc- 
cessor and in the year 1133, after the birth of Henry 
(called Fitz-Empress, afterward Henry II), he obliged 
the leading men of the kingdom to take the oath of fealty 
to his daughter and his little grandson as his successors. 

Stephen, coming to England upon Henry's death, was 
elected and, on 26 December, 1135, was crowned king. 
Matilda, landing in England 30 September, 1139, com- 
menced an active contest for the throne, based upon her 
right as the daughter and only heir of Henry I and upon 
the fact that allegiance had already been sworn to her 
by the representatives of the nation. 

On the 2 and 3 March, 1141, she was received by the 
high dignitaries of the Church at Winchester and on the 
7 and 8 April, 1141, she was elected "Domina Anglorum" 
("Lady of the English"). It is supposed that she was 
not crowned at this time owing to the idea that a formal 
coronation would thereafter be had at Westminster. After 
a protracted civil war, Matilda left the country in the 
year 1148, but it was not until the treaty between Henry 
and Stephen (7 November, 1153) that peace was restored 
to the kingdom. Matilda, however, during her stay had 
issued a number of charters and grants and had otherwise 



64 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

acted as a sovereign and was so regarded by the western 
counties for a portion of that time, so that, while she may 
not be ranked as one having reigned, she may be men- 
tioned as having acted a royal part in those troublous 
times. She died 10 September, 1167. 

It may be well to note that the name of Matilda was a 
favorite one and that a number of famous women bore it : 

Matilda (died 3 November, 1083), daughter of Bald- 
win V, Count of Flanders. w r as the wife of William the 
Conqueror. 

Matilda, "Good Queen Maud" (died 1 May. 1118), 
daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scotland, and niece of 
Edgar Atheling, was the first wife of Henry I. She w r as 
christened Edith but, after her marriage to Henry, was 
known by the Norman name of Matilda, or Maud. 

Matilda, or Maud (died 3 May, 1152), daughter of Eus- 
tace III, Count of Boulogne, was the devoted wife of 
King Stephen and energetically aided him in his struggle 
with Matilda the Empress. 

Matilda, daughter of Henry II, was born in the year 
1156, and became the wife of Henry the Lion, Duke of 
Saxony. She died 28 June, 1189. 

John. The dates of the regnal years of King John re- 
quire special notice. The reign of this king commenced 
on Ascension Day, 27 May, 1199. As this is a movable 
feast and as the time was calculated as of such holy day, 
the length of the regnal years of this reign varied so 
that some confusion consequently resulted. The com- 
plete table of such years is here inserted, each year be- 
ing from Ascension Day to the eve of the following As- 
cension Day: 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 65 

1. 27 May, 1199—17 May, 1200. 

2. 18 May, 1200— 2 May, 1201. 

3. 3 May, 1201—22 May, 1202. 

4. 23 May, 1202—11 May, 1203. 

5. 15 May, 1203— 2 June, 1201. 

6. 3 June, 1204—18 May, 1205. 

7. 19 May, 1205—10 May, 1206. 

8. 11 May, 1206—30 May, 1207. 

9. 31 May, 1207—14 May, 1208. 

10. 15 May, 1208— 6 May, 1209. 

11. 7 May, 1209—26 May, 1210. 

12. 27 May, 1210—11 Mav, 1211. 

13. 12 May, 1211— 2 May, 1212. 

14. 3 May, 1212—22 May, 1213. 

15. 23 May, 1213— 7 May, 1214. 

16. 8 May, 1214—27 Mav, 1215. 

17. 28 May, 1215—18 May, 1216. 

18. 19 May, 1216—19 October, 1216 (death of John). 

Henry VI was deposed by Edward IV on 4 March, 
1461. In October, 1470, Henry regained possession of the 
throne and resumed the legal title, so from 9 October, 
1470, until April, 1471, he might be considered as again 
being king. After Edward IV repossessed himself of the 
kingdom, he continued to reckon his reign from 4 March, 
1461. 

Lady Jane Grey is not generally mentioned as having 
reigned as queen, since her accession of royal power was 
treated as an usurpation. If, however, it is considered 
that she is to be regarded as having wielded the royal 
power and entitled to be classified as sovereign, we have — 

Jane — Began 6 July, 1553 ; ended 19 July, 1553. 

James II endeavored to leave England 11 December, 
1688, but was intercepted. Upon his second attempt, he 
was allowed to depart from the kingdom on 23 Decern- 



66 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

ber, 1688. These are generally referred to as the first 
and second flights of James. 

In the settlement of the government thereafter, the 
constitutional question whether the actions of the king 
constituted an abdication was keenly debated. The 
House of Lords took the position that there had not been 
an "abdication" for, if it were declared so to be, there 
would be an interregnum which was not in accordance 
with constitutional principles as then established. 

On the other side, it was argued that, in order to elect 
William and Mary (since William refused to act as Re- 
gent), the throne would have to be vacant for, if there 
had been no abdication there could be no vacancy. 

Owing to the exigencies of the case, and in order not 
to delay the settlement of the government, it was finally 
agreed to treat the actions of James as an abdication of 
the sovereignty, so that the end of this reign is now fixed 
as of 11 December, 1688. 

The beginning of the reign of William and Mary is 
determined by their acceptance of the Declaration of 
Rights passed by the Convention which took place on 13 
February, 1689. 

William III commenced to reign alone upon the death 
of Mary, his wife, with whom he had reigned as William 
and Mary. When they ascended the throne, it was agreed 
that they should reign jointly, but that the actual ad- 
ministration of affairs should be vested in William. Mary 
died on 28 December, 1694, and it was determined that 27 
December should close his sixth regnal year as William 
and Mary, and that the 28 December should begin his 
seventh regnal year, which was in reality the beginning 
of his sole reign as William HI. This calculation shows 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 67 

the necessity of remembering the exact date of the be- 
ginning of a reign. The first regnal year of AVilliam and 
Mary commenced on 13 February, 1689, and ended on 12 
February, 1690. The sixth regnal year of these sove- 
reigns began on 13 February, 1694, and, if Mary had 
lived, would not have closed until 12 February, 1695. 

George I (Guelph) belonged to the Hanoverian dynasty 
(or, as some prefer to call it, the Brunswick line) of 
English kings. He was the son of Sophia, Electress of 
Hanover, who was the daughter of Elizabeth, Queen of 
Bohemia. Elizabeth was the daughter of James I, so that 
George I was the great-grandson of the first Stuart king. 

By the Act of Settlement (12 and 13 William III, 
Chap. 2), the throne went to Anne and, in the event of 
her dying without issue surviving her, to the Electress 
Sophia and "the heirs of her body." 

The Electress predeceased Queen Anne, so that upon 
the latter 's death George ascended the throne. Tim 
thrones of England and of Hanover were separated upon 
the death of William IV and the accession of Queen Vic- 
toria to the English throne on 20 June, 1837. 

Edward VII (Wettin) was of the line of Saxe-Coburg 
and Gotha, his father, the prince consort, having been a 
prince of that house. Dynastically, however, Edward VII 
and George V should be considered as belonging to the 
Hanoverian dynasty. 

George V. At a special meeting of the Privy Council, 
followed by a Royal Proclamation, the King, on 17 July, 
1917, adopted the name of "Windsor" for that of the 
royal house. Windsor, as a fortress, a castle and a resi- 
dence, has been closely associated with the history of the 
nation and of the sovereigns and their families from 



68 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Norman times, so that the selection of this name seems 
eminently suitable, more particularly when it is remem- 
bered that many English surnames are derived from the 
estate, or place of residence, of the owner. 

Norman. 

William I (the Conqueror) — Began 25 December. 1066; 

ended 9 September, 1087. 
William II (Rufus) — Began 26 September, 1087; ended 

2 August, 1100. 
Henry I (Beauclerc) — Began 5 August, 1100; ended 1 

December, 1135. 
Stephen (of Blois) — Began 26 December, 1135; ended 

25 October, 1154. 

Plantagenet (or Angevin). 

Henry II (Curt Mantel) — Began 19 December, ^L154 ; 

ended 6 July, 1189. 
Richard I (Coeur de Lion) — Began 3 September. 1189; 

ended 6 April, 1199. 
John (Lackland)— Began 27 May, 1199; ended 19 Octo- 
ber, 1216. 
Henry III (Winchester) — Began 28 October, 1216; ended 

16 November, 1272. 
Edward I (Longshanks) — Began 20 November, 1272; 

ended 7 July, 1307. 
Edward II (Caernarvon) — Began 8 July, 1307; ended 20 

January, 1327. 
Edward III (Windsor) — Began 25 Januarv, 1327; ended 

21 June, 1377. 
Richard II (Bordeaux)— Began 22 June, 1377; ended 29 

September, 1399. 

Lancaster. 

Henry IV (Bolingbroke) — Began 30 September, 1399; 
ended 20 March, 1413. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 69 

Henry V (Monmouth)— Began 21 March, 1413; ended 31 

August, 1422. 
Henry VI (Windsor) — Began 1 September, 1422; ended 

4 March, 1461. 

York. 

Edward IV— Began 4 March, 1461 ; ended 9 April, 1483. 
Edward V— Began 9 April, 1483; ended 25 June, 1483. 
Richard III — Began 26 June, 1483; ended 22 August, 
1485. 

Tudor. 

Henry VII (Tudor)— Began 22 August, 1485; ended 21 
April, 1509. 

Henry VIII— Began 22 April, 1509; ended 28 January, 
1547. 

Edward VI— Began 28 January, 1547 ; ended 6 July, 1553. 

Mary — Began 6 July, 1553; ended 24 July, 1554 (marriage 
with Philip, 25 July, 1554). 

Philip and Mary — Began 25 July, 1554 ; ended 17 Novem- 
ber, 1558, by death of Mary. 

Elizabeth — Began 17 November, 1558 ; ended 24 March, 
1603. 

Stuart. 

James I— Began 24 March, 1603; ended 27 March, 1625. 

Charles I— Began 27 March, 1625 ; ended 30 January, 
1649. 

The Commonwealth — Republic established at death of 
Charles I, 30 January, 1649; Oliver Cromwell made 
Protector, 16 December, 1653 ; Oliver Cromwell died 
3 September, 1658, and was succeeded by his son, 
Richard Cromwell, who was proclaimed Protector, 3 
September, 1658 ; Richard Cromwell abdicated, 25 May, 
1659; monarchv restored, 8 May, 1660; Charles II en- 
tered London, 29 May, 1660. 

Charles II — Began 30 January, 1649; ended 6 February, 
1685. 



70 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

James II — Began 6 February, 1685; ended 11 December, 

1688. 
William and Mary — Began 13 February, 1689; ended 

27 December, 1694 (death of Mary, 28 December, 1694). 
William III — Began 28 December, 1694; ended 8 March, 

1702. 
Anne— Began 8 March, 1702; ended 1 August, 1714. 

Hanover (or Brunswick). 

George I — Began 1 August, 1714; ended 11 June, 1727. 

George II — Began 11 June, 1727; ended 25 October, 
1760. 

George III — Began 25 October, 1760; ended 29 January, 
1820. 

George IV — Began 29 January, 1820; ended 26 June, 
1830. 

William IV— Began 26 June, 1830; ended 20 June, 1837. 

Victoria — Began 20 June, 1837 (married to Albert, Duke 
of Saxony and Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on 
10 February, 1840 ; Albert was ordered to be styled 
"Prince-Consort" on 25 June, 1857; he died 14 Decem- 
ber, 1861) ; ended 22 January, 1901. 

Edward VII — Began 22 January, 1901; ended 6 May, 
1910. 

George V — Began 6 May, 1910 ; became 

Windsor. 
George V — 17 July, 1917 ; ended . 



APPENDIX 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 73 

Money and Monetary System. 

Monetary values are reckoned in Pounds, Shillings and 
Pence, the abbreviations being derived from the Latin 
words libra, solid us and denarius. Thus we have "£" 
for Pounds, "s" for Shillings, "d" for Pence, from the 
first letter of the Latin words. 

The Penny is divided into Farthings, whose symbol is 
"far." 

Table. 

4 Farthings (far.) = 1 Penny (d). 

12 Pence = 1 Shilling (s). 

20 Shillings = 1 Pound Sterling (£). 

The Pound is often called, colloquially, Sovereign. 

In Great Britain the money is metallic, paper money 
being issued by banks. Gold is the standard, the Pound 
Sterling is the unit. Other coins are also minted in 
silver and bronze. 

In certain large transactions the values are reckoned 
in Guineas, a Guinea being equivalent to 21 Shillings. 

A Crown is a silver coin equivalent to 5 Shillings, 
while a Florin is worth 2 Shillings. 

The following table of former coins and values may 
prove useful to the reader of history, but it is to be 
recollected that the exact values differed at different 
times and their purchasing power differed : 1 Groat = 4d ; 
1 Tester = 6 d ; 1 Noble = 6s. 8d ; 1 Angel = 10s ; 1 Mark 
= 13s. 4d ; 1 Jacobus = 23s ; 1 Carolus = 25s ; 1 Broad = 
£3 12s. 

India has a currency system of its own, as have Canada 
and certain of the other dominions of the Empire. 



7 4 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

SOVEREIGNS OF SCOTLAND. 

(From Malcolm III, Canmore, to James VI of Scotland.) 

Malcolm III 1057-1093 

Donald VII 1093-1098 

Duncan II 1094-1095 

Edgar 1098-1107 

Alexander 1 1107-1121 

David 1 1124-1153 

Malcolm IV 1153-1165 

William I (the Lion) 1165-1214 

Alexander II 1214-1249 

Alexander III 1249-1286 

Margaret 1286-1290 

John (Baliol) 1292-1296 

Interregnum 1296-1306 

During which Wallace was regent 1297-1298 

Robert I (Bruce) 1306-1329 

David II .1329-1371 

Robert II (Stuart) 1371-1390 

Robert III 1390-1406 

James 1 1406-1437 

James II 1437-1460 

James III 1460-1488 

James IV 1488-1513 

James V 1513-1542 

Mary 1542-1567 

James VI began to reign 24 July, 1567, and ascended the 

English throne 24 March, 1603. 

THE DUKES OF NORMANDY (to the Norman 
Conquest). 

The Northmen began to invade Gaul in A. D. 799. 
Hrolfr, or Rollo (the Ganger), the son of Rognwald, Jarl 
of Mori in Norway, entered France by way of the Seine 
in the year 876. Rollo obtained the grant of Normandy 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 75 

to be held directly as a fief of the king, from Charles III 
(the Simple) of France by the Treaty of Clair on Epte 
in the year 911, and thus became the first Duke of Nor- 
mandy. He married Gisela, the daughter of Charles. In 
the year 927 he abdicated and died A. D. 932. 

Rollo 912- 927 

William I (Longsword) 927- 942 

Richard I (the Fearless) 942- 996 

Richard II (the Good) 996-1026 

Richard III 1026-1028 

Robert 1028-1035 

William the Conqueror (King of England 

A. D. 1066) 1035-1087 

The Cinque Ports were originally the five seaports 
of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich. To 
these were added the towns of Winchelsea and ' Wye. 
They were a corporation to themselves, had broad govern- 
ing powers, and, under their lord warden, were supposed 
to protect the southern seacoast, and indeed to furnish 
the navy for the nation. 

The institution of the Cinque Ports existed from Anglo- 
Saxon times and was fully recognized by a charter 
granted to them by Edward I. Their charter rights were 
surrendered to the Crown in 1685, and their privileges 
were practically abolished in the years 1832 and 1835. 

"The Three Estates of the Realm" are (1) the Lords 
Spiritual. (2) the Lords Temporal and (3) the Commons. 

"In England where the clergy have been esteemed one 
estate, the peers of the realm the second estate and the 
commons of the realm, represented in Parliament by per- 
sons chosen by certain electors, a third estate." 



7 6 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Seals. The use of a Great Seal in England may be 
said to date from the reign of Edward the Confessor, who 
was a great admirer of French customs and who estab- 
lished the use of such a seal, taking as its model that of 
Henry I of France (A. D. 1031-1060). 

After the Conquest seals gradually came into general 
use. The nobles were trained to war and left the art 
of writing to the monks and scribes, so that the seal be- 
came the means, and generally the only means, to execute 
a charter or to represent the authenticity of a letter, or 
other document. 

The study of seals furnishes valuable historical data 
and is often the only method by which paleographers de- 
termine the date or the authenticity of a document. 

The word "seal" is generally used to denote: (1) the 
impression on wax, or on some similar substance, of a de- 
sign, armorial or otherwise; (2) the instrument by which 
the impression is made, and sometimes (3) the design 
only, but, technically speaking, the seal is (1) the wax, 
or similar substance, containing the design as impressed 
upon it by (2) the engraved die (matrix). 

Where there are two sides to a seal (as in the case of 
the Great Seal) the upper, or front, side is known as the 
"obverse," while the lower, or under, side is called the 
"reverse," or "counterseal." 

The general rule is that the "throne" side of the Great 
Seal is the obverse, while the "equestrian" side is the re- 
verse, or counterseal; the exception to the rule being the 
Great Seal of William the Conqueror. 

Shires and Counties. In Anglo-Saxon times, England 
was divided into shires which were governed by earldor- 
men under the kino- in whose dominion the shire was 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 77 

located. The practical business of administration was 
left to the shire-reeve. Prom these words "earldormen" 
and "shire-reeve" we have derived earl and alderman 
(earldormen) and sheriff (shire-reeve). The Normans 
called these divisions counties and changed the name of 
earl to that of count, since restored to earl. But the 
term shire was still used, and is to the present day, al- 
though these local divisions are, as a rule, denominated 
counties in official communications, and we find Henry 
VIII dividing Wales into twelve shires (34 & 35 Henry 
VIII, Chap. 26). Local government in the counties, or 
shires, has been greatly changed by the Local Government 
Act of 1888 (51 & 52 Victoria, Chap. 11) as to England 
and Wales. Local customs of Anglo-Saxon and feudal 
times still survive in many places and have given rise 
to the old legal maxim, "Consuetudo mancrii et loci 
observanda est" (The custom of the manor and of the 
locality should be regarded). 

The County of Durham retained its general palatine 
jurisdiction until the year 1836, when it became vested 
in the Crown by 6 William IV, c. 19. 

The dates of the formation of the various counties dif- 
fer and their beginnings must be sought in their local 
histories. Thus, the old Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the 
East Saxons (Essex), the West Saxons (Wessex), Kent, 
and other old tribal divisions have left their names to 
mark their locations, while others, such as Leicestershire 
and Nottinghamshire, were erected by King Alfred in 
the ninth century. Some counties were of a much later 
date, as in the case of Lancashire, of Monmouthshire and 
of Rutland (vide, Domesday Book). England is divided 
into forty counties, or shires, some of which are them- 



78 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

selves sub-divided for administrative purposes as in the 
case of Yorkshire, which contains the East Riding ("tred- 
ing, " "triding," or "thriding," meaning third), the West 
Riding and the South Riding, or as in the case of Cam- 
bridgeshire, the northerly portion thereof being known 
as the Isle of Ely. The City of London, which has enjoyed 
for many centuries its "liberties" under a long series of 
charters, always occupied an important position in the 
political life of the kingdom and had practically the status 
of a county in so far as local self-government was con- 
cerned. By the Local Government Act of 1888, above re- 
ferred to, an area, comprising the City of London and 
certain portions of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent, was erect- 
ed into the administrative County of London, of which the 
city itself became an electoral division. The derivation 
of the names of some of the shires are evident, as in the 
case of Wessex (the West Saxons), Essex (the East Sax- 
ons), and Northumberland (the land north of the Hum- 
ber). The derivation, however, of some of the root words 
is often involved in doubt. A number of the counties 
were named from the chief town, or settlement, contained 
therein. The descriptive word, or syllable, shire, in the 
name of the counties, is frequently dropped in general 
use and sometimes such names are still further abbre- 
viated. 

England. 

Bedfordshire, also called Cheshire, or Chester. 

Bedford, or Beds. Cornwall. 

Berkshire, or Berks. Cumberland. 

Buckinghamshire, Bucking- Derbyshire, or Derby. 

ham, or Bucks. Devonshire, or Devon. 

Cambridgeshire, or Cam- Dorsetshire, or Dorset. 

bridge : Durham. 

Isle of Ely. Essex. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 



79 



Gloucestershire. 
Hampshire, or Hants : 

Isle of Wight. 
Herefordshire, or Hereford. 
Hertfordshire, or Herts. 
Huntingdonshire, Hunting- 
don, or Hunts. 
Kent. 

Lancashire, or Lancaster. 
Leicestershire. 
Lincolnshire : 

Lindsay. 

Kesteven. 

Holland. 
London (City, Admin. Co.). 
Middlesex. 
Monmouthshire. 
Norfolk. 
Northamptonshire : 

Soke of Peterborough. 
Northumberland. 
Nottinghamshire, Notting- 
ham, or Notts. 



Oxfordshire. 

Rutlandshire, or Rutland. 
Shropshire, or Salop. 
Somersetshire. 
Staffordshire. 
Suffolk : 

East Suffolk. 

West Suffolk. 
Surrey. 
Sussex : 

East Sussex. 

West Sussex. 
Warwickshire. 
Westmoreland. 
Wiltshire, or Wilts. 
Worcestershire, or Worces- 
ter. 
Yorkshire : 

East Riding. 

West Riding. 

North Riding. 



Wales. 



Anglesey. 

Brecknockshire, or Brecon. 

Cardiganshire. 

Caermarthanshire, or Car- 
marthenshire. 

Caernarvonshire, or Car- 
narvonshire. 



Denbighshire. 

Flintshire. 

Glamorganshire. 

Merionethshire. 

Montgomeryshire. 

Pembrokeshire. 

Radnorshire. 



Scotland. 

The division of Scotland into counties, or "shires," of 
definite boundaries, particularly in the Highlands, was of 



80 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 



comparatively recent date ; the causes for which are 
readily seen when we consider the history of the country. 
As noted in regard to the English counties (and as ap- 
plicable also to the Welsh counties), the suffix "shire" is 
frequently omitted even where the county capital has 
the same name without the suffix. It is also to be noted 
that some cities have the status of counties for certain 
purposes. 



Aberdeenshire. 

Argyllshire. 

Ayrshire. 

Banffshire. 

Berwickshire. 

Buteshire. 

Caithness. 

Clackmannan. 

Dumbartonshire. 

Dumfriesshire. 

Edinburgh. Edinburghshire 
(Midlothian). 

Elginshire. 

Fifeshire. 

Forfarshire. 

Haddingtonshire (East Lo- 
thian). 

Inverness. 



Kincardineshire. 
Kinross. 

Kirkcudbrightshire. 
Lanarkshire. 

Linlithgowshire (West Lo- 
thian). 
Nairnshire. 
Orkney. 
Peeblesshire. 
Perthshire. 
Renfrewshire. 
Ross and Cromarty. 
Roxburghshire. 
Selkirkshire. 
Shetland. 
Stirlingshire. 
Sutherland. 
AVigtownshire. 



Ireland. 

Ireland is divided into four provinces and thirty-two 
■counties. 

Leinster. 



Carlow. 
Dublin. 
Kildare. 



Kilkenny. 
King's County 
Longford. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 



Louth. 
Meath. 
Queen's County 



Westmeath. 

AVexford. 

Wicklow. 



Clare. 
Cork. 
Kerry. 
Limerick. 



Munster. 



Tipperary (divided into two 

Ridings). 
Waterford. 



Ulster. 



Antrim. 

Armagh. 

Cavan. 

Donegal. 

Down. 



Galway. 
Leitrim. 
Mayo. 



Fermanagh. 

Londonderry, or Derry. 
Monaghan. 
Tyrone. 



Connaught. 



Roscommon. 
Sligo. 



The Peerage. The nobility is divided into the five fol- 
lowing ranks, the highest being that of Duke: (1) Duke, 
(2) Marquis, (3) Earl, (4) Viscount, (5) Baron. The 
title of Baronet is one of distinction but not of nobility. 

The House of Lords, as composed of the nobility, has 
played such an important part in the constitutional his- 
tory of England that some account of its membership 
(the hereditary peerage) should be given here. 

The titles of nobility as now recognized, as well as the 
nature of the dignities they represent, are all post-con- 



82 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

quest and are a result of feudal ideas modified by consti- 
tutional development.* 

The Concilium of the Norman kings was composed of 
those who held of them by feudal tenure and who sat as 
ha/rones regis — as tenants in capite. The basic idea of 
tenure, and the consequential duties of the baron to the 
king, qualified a baron for membership in the Great Coun- 
cil wherein all who sat did so by virtue of their being 
tenants-in-chief of the sovereign. 

Then there began to arise a modification to this right, 
based on tenure only, in the idea that the king should 
notify by writ those whom he wished to attend him in his 
com in ii tie concilium. The Magna Charta of King John 
(Chapter 14) shows the establishment of the writ princi- 
ple which becomes firmly fixed by the end of that cen- 
tury when it has entirely supplanted the theory that 



*It should be noted that authorities differ greatly on many matters con- 
nected with English mediaeval history, and this is marked in the question as 
to the amount of influence exerted by Anglo-Saxon customs and institutions 
upon the Anglo-Norman government and laws. 

The prevailing doctrine now is that the feudal system introduced by William I 
wrought a great and decided change and that the resultant Anglo-Norman gov- 
ernment differed widely from its predecessor so that the House of Lords as a 
successor of the "curia" and "concilium" of the earlier Norman kings was 
based on tenure and was thus separated from the Witenagemont, from which 
it is distinct. However, there is great diversity of opinion on this difficult 
subject and some scholars trace in the Anglo-Saxon customs and laws the be- 
ginnings of feudalism in England before the Conquest . 

The Anglo-Saxons recognized certain ranks, but these were not as sharply 
marked as under the Normans and differed in many ways. It may be stated 
that from a social standpoint the Anglo-Saxon ealdorman, thane, theoden (or 
lesser thane), churl, occupied the relative standing of the Norman count 
("comes" or earl), baron, vavassor, villein, although the idea is also held that 
the Saxon ealdorman more closely resembled the Norman duke and the Saxon 
thane, the Norman knight. But, as stated above, the feudal system intro- 
duced by William the Conqueror must be regarded in any consideration of 
this kind as it became the basis of the social relations of the nation and of 
the early establishment of ranks in England after the Conquest. Of course, 
this is a general rule for a number of Anglo-Saxon customs, laws and insti- 
tutions continued to exist (notably in the case of the shire organization) and 
certain officials continued to exercise their functions (as in the case of the 
sheriff) so that in such instances the legal system of the Anglo-Normans fol- 
lowed and was based upon that of the Anglo-Saxons, subject only to such 
changes as were a necessary consequence of a conflict between the former gov- 
ernment and the feudal system. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 83 

tenure alone gives right, ex debito justiciar, to a tenant 
by barony to be summoned to Parliament. Barons by 
Tenure still continued to sit rather as under the Writ of 
Summons, but the tenurial feature may be seen even at 
the present day in the hereditary principle of the House 
of Lords. f 

(1). Duke. This dignity was not bestowed in England 
until the year 1337, when Edward III created his son, 
Edward the Black Prince, Duke of Cornwall. Although 
William the Conqueror was Duke of Normandy by he- 
reditary tenure, he did not confer this title, possibly be- 
cause he did not wish to create a class of nobility which 
might assume the continental feudal idea of the tradi- 
tional prerogatives of such a high degree of dignity, and 
would thereby interfere with the form of government 
and of monarchy which he desired to establish. While 
the word "dux" (whence, "duke") was known to the 
Anglo-Saxons, it was used by them in its more classical 
sense of "military leader." 

(2). Marquis (or Marquess). This title was first con- 
ferred as an English dignity by Richard II upon Robert 
de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who, on 1 December, 1385, was 
made Marquis of Dublin. John de Beaufort, Earl of 



tThe use of the word "Parliament" to denote an official legislative assembly 
was first used in the reign of Henry III to describe a large meeting at London, 
and thereafter was applied to the meetings of the Estates of the Realm. 

The term "Peer" to denote nobility, and so to describe Barons and Earls 
(the only two ranks of nobility at that time), was first used in the case of the 
award of exile against Hugh le Despencer and his son in the year 1321 (14 
Edward II). As thus used, it is said to mark the date of the beginning of a 
legal peerage. The term (from Latin "par," meaning equal) had been thereto- 
fore used in the sense of equality between individuals of a class as illustrated 
by its use in Magna Charta (Chap. 29) "nisi per legale judicium parium suorum." 
Its restricted use in the year 1321 was practically to designate officially the 
Barons and Earls as the Peers and to confine it to the nobility as a distinctive 
term for rank as in the expression, "Peers of the Realm." 

When dukedoms, marquisates and viscounties were created they became part 
of the peerage and their holders took their seats in Parliament as Peers. 



84 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Somerset, was created Marquis of Dorset on 29 Septem- 
ber, 1397. 

The name of this dignity is derived from "marchio," a 
mark, or frontier, and the wardens, or governors, of the 
frontiers of Wales and Scotland were known as the lords- 
marchers. But the title in England seems rather to have 
derived its origin from the continental idea of such rank, 
and was regarded at first as a foreign one. 

(3). Earl. From the time of the Conquest until the 
reign of Edward III, this title designated the highest he- 
reditary dignity of the kingdom. The Anglo-Saxon earl- 
dorman, or ealdorman, was the administrative head of 
a shire, or county, and under him was the shire-gerefa. 
William did not abolish all Anglo-Saxon customs and in- 
stitutions, but he changed and modified them by the intro- 
duction of a strong monarchical government based upon 
the feudal system so that there was a radical and marked 
difference between Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman En- 
gland. 

In Normandy and France, he who had charge of a 
county was called "count," and under him, in the prac- 
tical administration of his county, was the viscount. The 
word "comes" was used by the Anglo-Saxon in his Latin 
writings to designate the earldorman (in later Anglo- 
Saxon times called "earl"), and as this Latin word 
("comes") was used on the continent for "count," it is 
readily seen that there was a similarity of name as well 
as of rank.* In like manner the "vice-comes" in France 



*"Comes" (Latin, a friend, an associate) was applied in early times in France 
to a friend, or companion, of the sovereign and the term "eomites" became 
applied to those friends of the king who held the chief places by reason of 
royal grant. In other words, the counts were so called because they were the 
attendants of the king and were supposed to have received, or to hold, their 
rank by this personal relationship, as well as by the reciprocal duties attendant 
upon their lands and offices. 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 85 

was the viscount, while in England the word designated, 
and continued to designate, the sheriff. William I granted 
the earldoms of the Saxons to his Norman followers who 
were bound to him by feudal tenure, but it is difficult 
to define these earldoms and to trace the exact powers 
conferred upon the holders. William did not wish such 
a powerful hereditary class as would interfere with his 
ideas of sovereignty so that he may have granted them 
under the exigencies of the case and in order to con- 
tinue the fixed form of government, trusting in the feudal 
ideas he had established to restrain their influence. The 
palatine earls created by William, with their vice-regal 
power, may seem a contradiction to this polity, but it 
is now recognized that these jurisdictions were created 
for the purpose of strengthening such dignitaries in their 
authority so as the better to enable them to protect the 
kingdom on its frontiers. 

Thus, the Earldoms of Chester and Shropshire (al- 
though it is questioned whether the latter had full pala- 
tine jurisdiction) guarded England from the Welsh; 
Durham acted as a bulwark against the Scots; Kent 
could watch for the French. 

In the old days, although the earldom was hereditary, 
there was also an investiture by the girding on the sword 
which was usually accompanied by the grant of one- 
third of the profits of the county court, called ' ' the third 
penny of the pleas" (denarius tertius comitatus). 

The earl usually took his style from the name of the 
county where his chief castle, or most of his lands, was 
situated, or from the chief town of such county, and, in 
a few instances, from his castle and from his family name. 
Titles did not have a fixed style for some time after the 



86 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Conquest, and frequently the same earl would be desig- 
nated by different names. Hereditary surnames did not 
begin to appear in England until after the Conquest and 
did not assume a fixed form until about the middle, or lat- 
ter part, of the thirteenth century. The title of "Comes" 
is therefore regarded as part of the Christian name and 
it then became a matter of choice, or chance, as to 
whether the particular earl would be called simply by 
such name or would be individualized by an additional 
name, for if there were two earls having the same name 
it would become necessary to differentiate them. As stated 
above, this was generally done by adding the name of 
the county, but frequently the same earl was desig- 
nated in different ways. 

(4). Viscount. This rank, as an English title of no- 
bility, was first conferred by Henry VI upon John Beau- 
mont on 12 February, 1-140. who thus became Viscount 
Beaumont. As heretofore stated, the Latin equivalent, 
vice-comes, was applied to the sheriff in England owin^ 
to his position as the active administrator of county af- 
fairs being considered analogous to that of the French 
viscount. The change is well expressed in the language 
of the old law writers, "Post comites vicecomites online 
sequuntur. Viscounts nos vocamur. Haec vetus officii 
sed novo dignitatis appellatio, et H. 6, ad nos primum 
audita." 

(5). Baron. This term, as a title of dignity, was of 
Norman origin and is the result of the introduction of 
the feudal system into England at the time of the Con- 
quest. Indeed, the history of the evolution of the mean- 
ing of the word "baron" (from "baro," a man), from 
its specialized signification fin its relation to the sove- 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 87 

reign), to its final application to denote a hereditary 
rank of the nobility, may be said to be a history of early 
feudalism in England in connection with the origin of 
Parliament, as well as of the early peerage. 

It must be remembered that the word "baron" did not 
come to particularize exclusively the rank of nobility 
which it now describes until long after the Conquest, for 
the dignity itself was a development of feudal ideas along 
growing constitutional lines. 

From its application to the tenants-in-chief of the king 
whose duty it was to attend the commune concilium, it 
thus represented the position of those who, by reason of 
their tenure of lands, were entitled to attend and, as "ten- 
ure" yielded to "writ," and "writ" to "patent," we 
trace the history of the present dignity in the growth of 
the Parliament. 

It is thus readily seen how, in the early days, the word 
was used in a generic sense to designate the nobility gen- 
erally, and how it could have been applied to describe 
the holders of certain great official positions, as in the 
case of the Barons of the Exchequer, or as in the case 
of the Barons of the Cinque Ports. It was used some- 
times to distinguish the tenants-in-chief of the great earl- 
doms, and the expression of "baron et feme" in law and 
heraldry still preserves the original meaning of the word. 

Barony by Tenure. This term is applied to those early 
holders of lands who, by reason of being tenants-in-chief 
of the king and of holding directly of him, were supposed 
to form the commune concilium of the kingdom. 

Those who held under another were obligated, under 
the feudal system, to render to their lord, counsel and 
advice as well as to perform other duties and service. 



88 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Consequently, the landholders who held their fiefs direct- 
ly of the sovereign owed a duty arising from their tenure 
to attend the meetings of the Great Council, and so it 
followed that the tenure of land implied a position as 
baron arising from such relation to the king. 

Gradually a distinction began to arise, and the greater 
and more important tenants-in-chief were designated as 
the barones nuvjores to distinguish them from those of 
lesser estate — the barones minores. This division is clear- 
ly marked in the Magna Charta of King John (Chapter 
14), wherein it is expressly stipulated that the majores 
barones, together with the archbishops, bishops, abbots 
and earls, were to be summoned singly when the common 
counsel of the kingdom was to be had by the king, thus 
distinguishing them from the other tenants-in-chief, or 
the lesser baronage. This chapter of the Great Charter 
also shows the recognition of the writ to Parliament 
which was to play such an important part in the consti- 
tutional history, concerning which mention has been here- 
tofore made. 

In the Fitzwalter Peerage Case, the nature of a barony 
by tenure was discussed before a meeting of the Privy 
Council, and it was then declared (16 January, 1607) that 
it ''was found to have been discontinued for many ages 
and not in being and so not fit to be revived or to admit 
any pretence of right of succession thereupon." 

Barony by Writ. AVhile AVrits of Summons to Parlia- 
ment were known before the Great Charter of John, and 
were mentioned therein, yet the Model Parliament of 1295 
may be said to be the date which has been arbitrarily 
fixed as the time from which it may be considered that 
such a summons (and a sitting thereunder) created the 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 89 

hereditary dignity of baron.* The dignity became a per- 
sonal rather than a territorial one, but retained the he- 
reditary principle incident to the latter. 

The celebrated peerage case of the Barony of Clifton 
finally established the doctrine that baronies by writ were 
descendible. This was in the year 1674. The Abergavenny 
case (or Coke's interpretation of same) in the year 1610 
established the principle "that the direction and delivery 
of a Writ of Summons does not make a baron or noble, 
until he comes to Parliament and there sit, according to 
the commandment of the writ. But if he is created by 
letters patent, he is a nobleman immediately." 

Baronies by Writ have received their hereditary prin- 
ciple from constitutional custom for the writ itself con- 
tains no words of inheritance, and there is thus shown 
the tenurial principle. The dignity descends to the heirs 
general of the person first summoned. 

Barony by Patent. The first known case of this 
dignity having been created by Patent was that of John 
de Beauchamp of Holt who, by Letters Patent of 10 Octo- 
ber, 1387, was created Baron of Kyderminster by King 
Richard II, the words creating the dignity being: "ipsum 



*The Writs of Summons varied slightly from time to time, and there was 
a difference between those directed to the archbishops, bishops and other eccle- 
siastics and those to the earls and barons. The clergy were commanded to 
attend "in ride et dilectione," while the lay dignitaries were summoned "in tide 
et homagio." The following is a general form of the old Writ addressed to the 
earls and barons, in mediaeval Latin: 
"Rex, dilecto et fideli suo , salutem, 

Quia super quibusdam arduis negociis, nos et regnum nostrum ac vos 
ceterosque proceres et magnates de eodem regno (tangentibus), que sine, vestra 
et eorum presencia nolumus expediri: parliamentum nostrum tenere, et vobiscum 
super hiis colloquium habere volumus et tractatum, vobis mandamus, in fide* 
et homagio quibus nobis tenemini, firmiter injungentes quod sitis ad nos apud 

Westmonasterium die mensis proximo futuro, vel saltern infra tercium 

diem subsequentem ad ultimum. vobiscum super dictis negociis tract aturi, et 
vestrum consilium impensuri. Et hoc nullo modo omittatis. 
Teste meipso apud etc." 



90 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 

Johannem in iininn purinm et baron um regni uo.stri 
Angliae praeficinms; volentes quod idem Johannes et 
haeredes masculi de eorpore suo exeuntes statum Baron is 
obtiucaut ac Domini de Beuuchump et Barones de 
Kidderminster mmGupcmtur." 

The dignity of Baron, as a distinctive rank of the nobil- 
ity, as the term is now understood may be said to date 
from the creation of baronies by patent. 

The next creation by patent occurred in the year 1483. 
when Henry VI made Sir John Cornwall, Baron of Fan- 
hope and the practice was fully established after the year 
1446. 

The patents were, at first, simple in form but subse- 
quently became lengthy. They fixed the course of des- 
cent of the dignity which had to be in conformity with 
the requirements of law. Formerly, elaborate ceremonials 
of different forms were required in the cases of those 
elevated to the various dignities, but in 13 James I it 
was decided that the issuance of a patent was sufficient. 

Peerage dignities from their having been originally 
annexed to lands are still classed in law as that sub- 
division of real property known as incorporeal heredita- 
ments, although now they may be regarded as "little 
more than personal distinctions." 

As has been stated above, the title of Baronet is one of 
distinction and of honor, but its holder is not entitled 
to a seat in Parliament and so is not of the nobility. It 
is, however, hereditary. 

Baronet. The title of Baronet is one of distinction 
But not of nobility. It is personal and hereditary, and 
dates from the year 1611. when it was instituted by 
James I for the purpose of the settlement of Ulster. Sub- 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH HISTORY 91 

sequently, he established the order of the Baronets of 
Ireland in the year 1619 for the same purpose and pro- 
jected the institution of the Baronets of Scotland to aid 
in the settlement of Nova Scotia but, dying on 27 March, 
1625, this was done by his son, Charles I. These orders 
continued under their respective names until the unions 
of Scotland and Ireland with England when the titles 
thereafter created assumed the name indicating such 
union. These names thus show the time of the creation of 
the baronetcy. 

1. Baronets of England— 22 May, 1611. to 30 April. 

1707. 

2. Baronets of Ireland — 30 September, 1619, to 31 De- 

cember, 1800. 

3. Baronets of Scotland, or Nova Scotia — 28 May, 1625. 

to 30 April, 1707. 

4. Baronets of Great Britain (thus uniting 1 and 3)-— 

30 April. 1707, to 31 December, 1800. 

5. Baronets of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 

and Ireland (thus uniting 2 and 4) — on and after 
1 January, 1801. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS $ 



020 718 965 



